Bonded of Cadis Etrama di Raizel
by Laryna6
Summary: There are advantages to becoming one of the monsters you used to slay, but vampiric powers are no substitute for actual parenting skills. More than 830 years later, Raizel remains completely helpless in the face of human cuteness and wants to adopt everything that moves. Thank goodness Frankenstein has all that practice caring for children.
1. For Their Sake

_For people who don't know_ Noblesse _\- it's a Korean webtoon that's very like_ Slayers _in webcomic form, only supernatural/sci-fi horror instead of demonic/cosmic horror. Like Slayers, it's very hilarious without the humor ruining the audience's ability to take the battles and threats seriously. There are a lot of great action scenes._

 _Nobles are functionally immortal somethings with psychic powers and blood magic. Early humans used to move in with nobles and get them to do things for us by being cute at them. So we're basically cats. Who can open doors. And that would be why we own the planet._

 _This fic was the result of reading Episode 101 and going 'Wait…' and then checking the scanlation to be sure I was reading it right. Holy crap._

 _This story branches off into AU during Episode 263._

 _One of the earlier arcs has several bits that are incredibly hilarious... if you know stuff revealed much, much later. It basically ruined my ability to take Dr. Crombel seriously as anything but a manipulator - although he's one heck of a dangerous one, between M-24, Ignes and Muzaka. I'm not sure if he deserves any of the credit for Yuri or not - supposedly Yuri's Crombel's, but other people thought he worked for them, too._

* * *

Tao and Takeo were recovering, but only because Raizel had spent his own lifeforce to save them. It wouldn't have been necessary if the lab was intact. Frankenstein could have healed them, if only M-21 hadn't asked them to take in M-24.

"Please take care of them," Frankenstein said to M-21 and the others before the door closed behind him as he left his ruined lab. He had another patient to check on.

Because Raizel was sleeping in that coffin.

Talking to the others didn't help. It just made M-21 angrier, that these were the people who were suffering because of him.

Clenching his fist, he knew that he could never forgive M-24.

He left the room, ignoring their attempts to call him back. He had to, to apologize to _him_ , and Frankenstein.

He had to _do something_.

By the time M-21 got there, the doors to the elevator that led to where Raizel slept were closing behind Frankenstein. "He'll be sleeping for a few days," Frankenstein said to himself. "Which should be enough time to accomplish this without it disturbing him. I couldn't inflict _that_ on Master."

"You have a plan?" M-21 asked him eagerly. "Whatever it is, let me help!"

Frankenstein turned to him, almost looking _startled_ to see him there. Was _that_ how tired and wound up all of this had made him, that he was focused enough on his own thoughts and worries about his master to tune out M-21's approach? "Even though he was your friend?"

"All of this is my fault."

" _Your_ fault?" Frankenstein chuckled, first condescendingly, and then even darker. M-21 took a step back, watching in case that dark energy appeared around him. "You think it's _your_ fault?"

The scientist walked past him, still chuckling, and then turned around to look at M-21, glints of that purple in his eyes. "I am the source of all the Union's human modification techniques. Everything that you and M-24 experienced was because I trusted when I should not have trusted."

Frankenstein was still smiling. It was the smile he had when he told M-21 to not actually _kill_ the sort of people gauche enough to drive a van onto an area of his schoolgrounds where vehicles weren't permitted and then threaten two of his staff, but other than that?

That was just the school his master attended, M-21 cleaning up an unsightly thing Rai should not have had to see. What was he going to do now that his lab had been destroyed? That Tao and Takeo had nearly died, and Frankenstein with no lab to treat them? Now that Frankenstein had allowed a mess to happen big enough to force the Noblesse to step in and save their lives with that power?

M-21 gulped. For a moment despite his resolve he wanted to plead for his former friend's life, but… Tao, and Takeo… _Him_ and Frankenstein and everyone's home. He couldn't forgive M-24. If this even was his former friend. "I'm coming with you. I need answers," he said, hurrying to follow Frankenstein to…

…the kitchen?

"Oh, he'll answer for this," Frankenstein said, and opened the freezer. M-21 couldn't see what he was doing through the door, but he drew out a small vial of something red with a white label on it.

"You had another blood sample?" They weren't all destroyed with the lab? "Do you think I can use it to find him?" he asked a little doubtfully. They were all tired: he wasn't sure if he could transform at all, and he hadn't practiced tracking by scent.

"Don't worry, M-21. He'll come to us. If he lives that long." A truly vicious expression appeared on Frankenstein's face for a moment as he stared at the vial. Then he sighed. A flicker of distaste appeared in his eyes, maybe even remorse. "I never wanted to have to do this, but after everything the Union has done I can't allow Crombel to keep that data. Once it's destroyed, and you have your answers… If M-24 is under the Union's control, I can use this to free him. From them, at least."

"If you had a way of finding out if he was under their control and fixing it, why didn't you use it before?" M-21 asked, getting worried.

"Because I spent a century and a half of my life killing anyone who did what I am about to do," Frankenstein said, removing the cap from the vial and placing it into the sink. Where the dirty dishes went, M-21 thought, as his eyes returned to the vial in time to see Frankenstein raise it to his lips and tip it down his throat.

M-21 watched him swallow, and then Frankenstein shuddered, raising a hand to his head and wincing.

"Are you okay?"

"Brain freeze…"

The werewolf just stared for a moment.

Frankenstein closed his eyes, focusing, leaning back against the fridge. "A modified human with the ability to incorporate others' DNA – I could _swear_ I made certain that journal was among the ones I burned! Yet there's no way someone as ignorant as Crombel could possibly have reproduced this on his own!"

"Then I was tricked." He'd asked them to accept a Union agent into their home, again. Kept imposing on their generosity until they paid the price.

"The one that spoke to us wasn't lying. Mark created a cover persona to avoid the nobles' psychic powers. 'Mark' hid behind that persona and slept, until he was triggered to awaken and act against us." Frankenstein opened his eyes.

"You can tell all that just from tasting his blood?" M-21 marveled, but really, why hadn't he done this before.

Frankenstein blinked at him, eyes incredulous blue. "You don't know what just happened? I know the Union didn't tell you anything – even Dr. Crombel clearly didn't know the first thing about how this worked, but I did explain it to you when you said you thought Master and myself were 'Noblesse, vampires, same thing,'" he said, sounding a little annoyed.

Now that M-21 knew what Noblesse really meant he had to wince, because comparing _him_ to that mutant M-24 created, in front of Frankenstein? No _wonder_ Frankenstein had been a little annoyed with him when he first moved in, if he kept unknowingly insulting Frankenstein's master like that! "You said that only one noble was the noblesse, and that vampires were mutants."

"No, I said that mutants were a type of vampire, the ones humans tell stories about since they're anything but subtle. You do remember that nobles have power over blood, yes? Master's is especially strong, because he is the Noblesse, but if a noble drinks the blood of a member of a different species, they can use that blood to control the person or animal they took it from. That's why it's normally forbidden these days for a noble to drink a human's blood. A human who has their blood taken can be controlled by the noble at any time, but in exchange they can call on some of the noble's powers. And one of those powers is…?" Frankenstein prompted him, showing M-21 the vial in his hand.

"…Controlling people after drinking their blood?" M-21 looked up at Frankenstein. "You're a vampire? I thought you said you were a human." He'd _lied_? "I thought you were a vampire when I moved in, you didn't have to lie."

"I didn't lie. A vampire is still a human. Or a dog, or a horse. Think of it as just a type of enhancement: it's the basis most of them ultimately derive from, since studying mutants allowed me to observe the human body replicating noble abilities. There were stories of dhampirs - humans with vampiric powers who were able to fight vampires effectively."

Ordinary humans were helpless against even mutants. Well, Shinwoo, but he wasn't normal. Frankenstein might be much better than Shinwoo, but if he'd been a scientist back then? "So you tried to turn yourself into one to get strong enough to kill vampires?"

" _And_ fight off their mind control. It was obvious after their leader froze the town guard just to show off that if I couldn't resist their mesmerizing effect then I couldn't fight them at all. Thank goodness I did, otherwise I would have ended up a vampire when that leader licked my blood off his sword. I thought I was safe unless he managed to bite me. Now that was a close call," Frankenstein said, sounding almost fond of those old days, like when he'd gone off into that spiel about the joy of seeking knowledge in the days before search engines. "If he'd been able to get a grip on my mind, channeling only barely-controlled noble power into me would have turned me into a mindless mutant like the other humans whose blood he took. Fortunately, I killed him first.

"Well over a century later, I met Master, and an embarrassing number of years after that I found out the truth of what he was. Although, in my defense, trying to learn how to control Dark Spear and fighting noble clan leaders took up most of my attention." Those blue eyes looked soft for a long moment, before he sighed. "He had to Awaken me to save me from Dark Spear. I gave him my blood willingly, as a pledge to stay by his side forever, as proof that he would never be alone again. Once he drank my blood, even if I was fool enough to wish to abandon him, it would be child's play for the Noblesse to force me to remain. He did me the unparalleled honor of entering into a Contract with me, and since that day I have had the honor of being the Bonded of Cadis Etrama di Raizel, although I'll thank you to not compare either of us to the Twelfth Elder and that traitor Roctis Kravei."

Despite the expression of clear warning, M-21 was dazed enough he couldn't help asking, "Does that mean you can turn into a bat?"

"No. I told you, the Twelfth Elder enhanced himself before entering into the contract." Frankenstein's expression darkened. "The Union wants to abandon humanity for power, thinks that they can become something _better_ than humanity so they deserve to look down on us..." Clearing his throat, he regained control of himself and the menacing energy subsided. "I took care to remain human, so I don't have a transformation. If that Elder's transformation had anything to do with the contract, he'd have turned into a sea serpent. Or possibly a whale."

"A whale?"

"The Leviathan, sometimes called Cetus, is the symbol of the Kravei Clan." Not that this mattered, Frankenstein's slight eye-roll said clearly. "Having a blood sample easily accessible has several uses in emergencies – I'm not a noble, so I can't use blood magic without drinking it, but that's what Regis and Seira are for. Not this of course, they're children and what I'm doing is punishable by forced eternal sleep. Fortunately, as a human I'm not subject to Lukedonia's laws."

Oh no. "What about _him_?" M-21 asked.

Frankenstein blinked at him. "Master? He'll be sad that I was forced to do something that has so many memories for me, or that I had to take his duty upon myself to protect you while he slept, but the Noblesse is the one who watches over the nobles from the shadows. A… wider selection of tactics is permitted for him than for clan leaders like Miss Seira." He shook his head. "Listen to me ramble on. I'm splitting my concentration too much." He walked past M-21, then smiled absently, telling him. "I'll be going to bed. Don't allow anyone to disturb me – unless Master wakes, of course. Tell Tao to use my phone to call Gejutel and have him send me Ragar-Rajak Kertia. I will have a list of database codes and facility locations for them in the morning, and I expect Rajak and Tao to be ready bright and early."

* * *

"Dr. Crombel?"

Dr. Crombel snarled soundlessly. How dare anyone interrupt him while he was studying such beautiful data! But no, perfect timing. He needed _more._ He started to turn away from the screen.

"Where. Did you get. That journal."

"Journal?"

"Yes. Journal." M-24's scarred face smiled at him, the expression dripping with patronizing contempt. "Don't tell me you thought the other Union Elders didn't know! Not after they put so much effort into spreading disinformation throughout the Union so that people like you wouldn't have even the most basic information necessary to become truly powerful on their own. A little brat who swallows the party line that two plus two equals five suddenly shows up with a sheet of new mathematical proofs, claiming to have solved them all himself? You're a fake, Dr. Crombel, and everyone knows it. You're far too stupid to have figured out how to create a modified human like this on your own.

"Why do you think the Twelfth Elder came to Korea so quickly after you ordered the destruction of that lab? Because even a fellow double-digit errand boy was in the know that you were nothing but a plagiarist, and he hoped to find evidence that your 'discoveries' came from other Union researchers so the other Elders would have you disposed of instead of permitting your continued existence until the First Elder's modified clone could discover where you got my journal and if there were any more."

Dr. Crombel grinned with delight, well aware of how psychotic that grin made him look. "You're F!"

"The first time we met, you _boasted_ of how little you knew. You told me – me! – that I wouldn't be aware of such advanced scientific concepts of how the earth was flat and the moon was made of green cheese. You didn't have the basic knowledge necessary to deduce the existence of the ability you gave Mark, and replicating something that complex-"

A beam tore through Crombel. If it had only cut him off at the knees he wouldn't be worried, but everything below his heart was gone! It hadn't come from Mark – behind him, through the console?

"-by complete accident? Impossible for someone like you, who wastes a hundred lives on experiments that obviously won't work to pretend those experiments are where you got your knowledge."

That craggy face smiled again, as Crombel's enhanced body let him cut off the pain and move his arms to lift himself up from where he'd fallen on the console. His body was still on the chair, if he could get to it they'd knit together again. He coughed once, but his lungs were already nearly repaired. Damn, having two sets of some organs would add extra time to reconnecting. He still grinned: that wasn't a fatal shot. Leaving him alive? That offered opportunities.

"Now I have no further need of Yuri." Mark tapped Crombel on the lips and came away with a bloody finger. Raising it to his mouth, he licked at it with a delicacy that clashed with the appearance of the body he'd – what, mimicked the way Mark had mimicked M-24?

Possessed?

Just _imagine_ what could be done with that… And he would, he knew, because the dark power F had used against him? The kind of person who would lick an enemy's blood was child's play to manipulate-

His body fell onto the floor, muscles, nerves and even brain overrides no longer responding.

"All the resources of the Union, and you couldn't track the provenance of a single book. All the evidence that M-21 and M-24's abilities were outside your estimates, and you didn't look up their names and track down their families to see if genetics was a factor." A thoughtful sound. "You know nothing. That makes you useless to me. But I suppose that's a good thing. It means I don't have to leave someone like you alive."

* * *

"One for each of us," Tao said, spreading out the vials he'd found in the hidden compartment in the freezer. "They're labeled. The extras are Sangeen and Yonsu, and the kids."

The mention of the kids drew an atavistic response from all of them, but M-21 knew, "After all the times they've been attacked or kidnapped… If the boss could take over one of them, or just give them his power so they could get to safety…"

"Imagine Shinwoo with an enhanced human's strength." Tao grinned, and then they all remembered the KSA and how close he'd come. How it had nearly cost him his chance at a normal, happy life. "The KSA agents are modified humans not registered with the Union."

"Crombel would want them to see if there are any new techniques in them," M-21 knew. The way he'd destroyed the Union's lab in Korea because there was a new technique there, and he wanted to keep it to himself.

"It's disgusting," Regis said, shuddering and staring at them with a look of betrayal in his eyes. He'd thought Frankenstein was an elegant person! Drinking blood was _not_ elegant. "Being forced to do things against their will is the worst thing that can happen to anyone! Any noble would rather be forced into eternal sleep!"

"They're not for enemies," M-21 said. "They're for us. _He_ needed Tao and Takeo's blood to Awaken them." He looked up at each of them. "If M-24 was still in there, and the Union just implanted commands in his head? He would have done anything to get them out and make sure he was safe to be around."

He reached forward, closed his hands around cold glass.


	2. Family Resemblances

_M-21 and -24 when first introduced are_ very _different from how they're characterized in the very next arc. Early Installment Weirdness? Just… try to ignore the first impression. I couldn't find M-21 likable on the first read-through because of it, but when I skipped that arc on a second read-through I found I now liked him a lot._

 _This chapter is fanservice. For me. I love my xenopsych and worldbuilding. There'll be a third chapter with more amusement along eventually._

* * *

"You don't need to be here, M-21," Frankenstein said, most of his attention seemingly focused on the paperwork that piled up while he was out for three days, busy elsewhere.

"You did that for me. In case it was still possible to bring him back."

"It was my own decision. Not something to thank me for." Frankenstein reached for his coffee cup, and grimaced when he found it empty. He'd wanted something to wash the memory of that taste out of his mouth.

The scent of blood in the air was back. He used to be a doctor even before he became a vampire hunter; He was used to blood, but when his master used so many blood fields he'd begun to hate the smell of it, and now it was starting to sicken him.

What if that had been the real M-24? M-24 had sacrificed himself to save the children, but for Frankenstein to do something that would affect Master for his own reasons?

He'd wiped the memories of both humans and nobles before, used the psychic abilities he'd copied from nobles to absorb languages and cultural behaviors when he moved into a new region to continue his search for Master or simply create a new identity.

This was different. This was a nauseating parody of the bond between him and Master. No wonder the Previous Lord had said they were completely different things, even if both were triggered by blood and allowed a noble's powers to be used by the human whose blood they drank.

It was a relief that Crombel and the agents Frankenstein had used to get to him and be sure he'd secured all the data were all dead, well before his master could wake up and feel their presence. Master would not be angry with him – he had not abused the weak or innocent, and it was the Noblesse's duty to probe the minds of clan leaders – but it would sorrow him to find what his bonded had done, what he had only been able to do because Master gave him what he wished by drinking his blood, and Frankenstein wished so much to spare him that.

A new coffee cup appeared on his desk, slid in front of him, and Frankenstein's nose wrinkled.

No. The smell of blood _wasn't_ his imagination.

He restrained a sigh and hoped this wasn't how Master felt, after he'd saved the human who had moved into his house and repaid the favor by disrupting Raizel's daily routine of window-staring with meals and other gifts he didn't need. And, of course, playing the model manservant when others visited for the sake of irritating the nobles – or boggling their minds – as much as possible.

Urokai Agvain was an easy target. Finding that one of the 'superior' nobles was so _easy_ to reduce to a frantic jealous wreck accusing him of plotting to harm someone as ridiculously powerful as Cadis Etrama di Raizel, as though the Noblesse was some damsel deceived by a suitor with foul intentions… was far less funny in hindsight. The fact that nobles couldn't handle their emotions was one of the cornerstones of his combat strategy, and instead of taking a moment to wonder _why_ Urokai's behavior was so uncharacteristic for a noble, when he was there partially to _learn how the clan leaders ticked,_ he'd bullied an insecure orphaned teenager, thinking that he 'deserved it' on the grounds of his species?

When the Previous Lord had explained the duties of the Noblesse, he'd given the former clan leader of Agvain, Urokai's parent, as an example of one of the nobles Raizel had spent his lifeforce to execute. Unfortunately, after being nearly devoured by Dark Spear and seeing the noble he'd looked after for ten years _bleed from the mouth_ because Urokai pulled out Tesamu's necklace, Frankenstein was in no condition to care about what it meant that Urokai was so devoted to the Noblesse even though the Noblesse forced his father into eternal sleep.

The bonds between parent and child were even stronger among nobles than among humans, which made strong evolutionary sense when children were so rare. Urokai would not feel grateful to his father's executioner _without very good reason_.

Was it only the Union's slander or Frankenstein's species that made Urokai think that he was a danger to the Noblesse. or had something about him reminded Urokai of the previous clan leader?

He'd taken his cue from how Urokai's visits seemed to upset his host, but of course Cadis Etrama di Raizel was a gentle soul who was repulsed by the thought of being offered gratitude and tribute for doing his duty. For _killing_.

Now Urokai Agvain was one of the traitor clan leaders, and there was a chance Master would be forced to spend his life to kill two generations of that clan, because Frankenstein had thought it was _funny_ to exploit an abuse victim's emotional vulnerabilities. It made the high school chairman want to go back in time and stab the vampire hunter. Speaking of people in need of stabbing: Ragar Kertia.

What the devil had he been thinking, leaving an emotional infant with a brain developed enough to remember the trauma of his only parent _choosing to abandon him_ with no one to look after him but a child who couldn't have been much more than Seira's age?

Most of his feelings for Seira were pure projection of his younger self's circumstances onto her, thinking the fellow orphan needed someone older who would devote his time to her the way Rajak clearly hadn't. Probably too focused on his training because of the incomplete Kartias. However, _Seira_ had Gejutel, and zero interest in being _talked at_ because of Rael's failure… to deal with his own… issues…

This was going to be Urokai all over again if no one stepped in and shored up Rael's sanity before _the Noblesse_ had to step in. Frankenstein probably owed it to Ragar, after all the help the Kertia Clan Leader gave him with Dark Spear.

 _Master_ might say he trusted Frankenstein's judgment in all things, but the fact that sometimes Frankenstein's judgment failed to see anything wrong with things like bullying emotionally fragile nobles was one of the reasons he felt… better, in the Noblesse's power. With his head already on the chopping block, if he ever abused the considerable power he'd gained. Their contract would make it easy for Master to do his duty, if it ever became necessary. If he ever went the way of the Union, he would be handled before innocent lives could be lost, at a minimal cost to his master.

There would still be a cost. It would still bring him pain. So that became another reason to hew to his principles.

That was the logical argument for giving the Noblesse his blood. Who else could be trusted to take down someone with enough power to fight noble clan leaders, someone who was still growing stronger?

There was nothing of logic in cutting his wrist open with a fingertip, deep enough to stay open long enough for a drop of blood to fall into the tea. It was not about him. Not when Frankenstein was wracked with guilt over what Master had just done for his sake, when he would do _anything_ to stay with him. Even give a noble his blood, when Frankenstein knew that for all he had modified himself, Cadis Etrama di Raizel was the Noblesse.

There was no one more skilled at controlling blood, or controlling those _with_ blood. Once the Noblesse drank a drop of Frankenstein's blood, he would be able to take control of Frankenstein's mind and override his free will at any time.

And that was alright.

He had tried not to expect, to dare to dream of a contract with that lonely, exquisitely pure being, to have their souls bound together for as long as they lived. But if Raizel had Frankenstein's blood, then he could be certain that Frankenstein would never abandon him. He would have someone who was _his_ , who he could _know_ would always stay by his side. And that was what Frankenstein had wanted, more than anything else.

Caught in memory, he raised the spiked cup to his lips and pretended to take a sip. "This tea tastes different," he remarked.

"It's… coffee."

"…Yes, coffee." Frankenstein lowered the cup and sighed. "Nice try. This is exactly how I became a vampire. I tried to trick Master into drinking it." Of _course_ the greatest master of blood could sense it. Frankenstein might have been slightly in shock at the time he did it, but that didn't make it any less embarrassing in hindsight.

M-21 flushed, embarrassed to be caught.

"Master did me the honor of using the ability to control me granted to him by that gift of blood to create a contract between us. That is… different. It is a bond of the soul, not simply power bought with the loss of integrity." The sacrifice of the noble's honor, and the human's self. He closed his eyes, savoring the feel of it. "It is wonderful." Something exquisite held in his hands. Something so pure and kind, entrusted to him. Someone he could entrust with his own soul, when the Union's treachery and Dark Spear's whispers undermined his faith in everything. Especially himself, and his own ability to know right from wrong.

"He was born only to die: to have this chance to protect him, to give him a normal life… But," he rallied, because there was a point to this other than reminiscing, "I was well over two hundred years old," Lukedonia's age of majority, "and knew what I was getting myself into. No. I didn't know… I had no idea what it was truly like." The Previous Lord had tried to explain what Frankenstein was going without, by not seeking a contract with Master when he clearly wished to be by his side, but what were mere words to this? "But I knew the worst case scenario, and I knew Master."

"I know you," M-21 said, eyes downcast to show polite submission to one of his parents. Or one of the two 'pack alphas,' to use the popular terminology based on observations of wolves in settings far more like M-21's life in the Union than a healthy environment.

Honestly, this kid. No wonder he'd given Master such severe cuteness proximity even when he was a Union thug. There was a reason Miss Seira saw Shinwoo as an adult, or at least a young adult her own age, and M-21 and the rest of Regis' new playmates as tiny children who must be protected at all costs.

Master was the Noblesse, so of course he had seen past M-21's façade. Now the enhanced human was no longer a snarling, abused stray that tried clearly futile snaps at the hand that fed him (or gave him safehouse access) because it just hadn't occurred to M-21 that someone might feed a stray unpoisoned food.

One of the things that made it possible to forgive M-21's involvement in attacks on the students as youthful folly was how _young_ he was. The Union certainly didn't have any interest in teaching people how to tell right from wrong, whether it be in ethics or information. Fortunately for M-21's sake, wolf, human and werewolf instincts were broadly compatible, unlike human and noble instincts. Put him in a healthy environment – an environment _designed_ to be healthy, for Master's sake and the students' – and he sorted himself out without any need for more active measures.

M-21 was _not_ going to trust any kind of doctor with what was going on inside his head, after the Union, and Frankenstein loathed manipulating people. His distaste for it grew worse as he gained psychic abilities and centuries worth of head start. M-21 deserved to become his own person, not have what kind of person he would become decided for him. That would be no different from what the Union tried to do to him.

Now M-24 would have been a mess even without the cellular degeneration issue. Sitting down and trying to figure out what would result from transplanting a noble's heart into a human should have made it obvious that Crombel had intended the M-series to fail so that no one _else_ could possibly get data out of those experiments.

And Crombel clearly hadn't known a _third_ of why it was just _asking_ for it to implant the organ that _controlled and managed blood flow_ and the attendant nerve cells from a species that _controlled the mind via blood_ into a human body with a human brain. When nobles regenerated nerve cells without trouble – the reason it was so dangerous for human bodies to create new nerve cells (they did it, but sparingly) didn't apply to a species that had an external, non-physical DNA and cognitive backup.

That was part of what made it so impossible for even the Noblesse to figure out the truth about Mark by comparing their scans of him to what they'd registered from the real M-24. Mark had his own buried personality and the M-24 persona, while M-24 had an 'echo' to his sense of self that came from having the equivalent of a third brain hemisphere with signaling problems.

If they'd brought M-24 home with them back then along with M-21, Frankenstein would have had to abandon his hopes of keeping his Master secret and safe (it gave him no joy that he'd been right, and there were traitors among the clan leaders) until he recovered to travel to Lukedonia and shake down Gejutel for everything he knew about noble infant development.

He likely would have had to contract to M-24 regardless, or ideally make Gejutel do it (he seemed the go-to foster parent for noble children), in order to have any chance of stabilizing the growth of M-24's soul before his body gave out under it.

Human bodies had evolved things like the autonomic nervous system, dozens of regulatory hormones and mechanisms for regulating cell processes that were suited to the human body. Nobles were beings of unknown origin who had copied human appearances and entire swaths of their genetic code (which made Frankenstein feel a bit better about so many of his early enhancements essentially being copying noble capabilities – they borrowed humanity's evolutionary advantages first), but in computer science terms they were running humanity on an emulator. The underlying system that managed nobles' growth, health and appearance was their soul. Human souls were generated by the brain's signals: they simply didn't have the processing power to run the brain, much less the entire body.

The only _helpful_ ingredient in the pills that served as M-21 and M-24's leash to the Union, thinking no one but the Union could make them, could be found in foxglove. They could have retired to the countryside and drank tea, and it would have done them more good than those pills. Crombel was the kind of… _inelegant_ bastard who would get a kick out of adding that kind of insult to a legion of injuries.

All in all, Frankenstein was very glad that the modern Union's modified humans considered themselves something _superior_ to humanity, meaning _not human_. That meant it wasn't _his_ species they were making look contemptibly stupid, but their own. They were gearing up to attack Lukedonia, which would have unleashed angry refugee nobles with no one to keep them from raising vampire armies, and instead of getting their act together before the world they planned to rule was overwhelmed by something much more deadly than the zombie apocalypse of recent pop culture they encouraged this institutional cult of incompetence just to hold on to their personal power bases?

Unleashing vampire plagues on innocent people just for the sake of their own hunger for power? A thousand years and more, and they hadn't changed.

With M-21 glancing at him out of the corner of grey eyes, he couldn't let any of his disgust for the Union show on his face. M-21 would misinterpret it, and Frankenstein wasn't going trivialize this with references to 'kicked puppies.' Not when he was dealing with someone who had spent the only childhood they remembered in a lab with all bodily and mental autonomy stripped from them, watching the only people who treated them like _people_ die, one by one, helpless to save them.

Thankfully, a werewolf's regenerative powers had protected him from the normal, physiological consequences of that kind of chronic agony. Figuring out antidepressant doses for a constantly-changing hybrid physiology would involve far more trial and error than he wanted to inflict on an experimental victim, and Frankenstein had put significant work into figuring out alternatives to giving M-21 _any_ kind of pill to take for good reasons.

Frankenstein chuckled. "No," he said, kindly. "Your memories stretch back less than a decade. Come speak to me when you're legally old enough to make decisions like this." On Lukedonia, preferably. "The only way to make this fair to you would be to make it a contract, and that would bind you to me, body and soul. It's not something a child is able to understand well enough to consent to it."

"You're talking about it like it's marriage." M-21 looked at him, worried. Was it?

"Very like it," Frankenstein agreed, both because it was true and because that would put M-21 off the entire idea. "At least, how marriage was defined in the place and time that I was born. Not the physical aspect," not necessarily, "but I am Master's. I am able to think my own thoughts only because he has given me leave. I still breathe only because he permits it."

He saw the look of recognition in the werewolf's eyes. Recalling what the Noblesse said when he made Jake kneel?

"You are talking about putting your life, your soul, in someone else's hands, M-21," he said, voice soft, trying to make it clear that this was kindness, not rejection. "I know that you do that when you enter my lab, I know that you have done that on the battlefield, but the Union treated you as property. Like a _thing_." He couldn't keep the flash of fury, both his and Dark Spear's, from showing in his eyes, and he let it, because M-21 needed to see it. To truly believe that what was done to him was wrong, that he deserved better. "I want you to belong to yourself for a little longer. So that, when you find someone you wish to stay with for the rest of your life, someone you wish to belong to and with, you understand the value of the gift you are giving them. You understand how much _they_ should value that gift, and refuse to give it to anyone who will treat it carelessly." Frankenstein frowned. "Master tends to value me… more than I wish to be."

"We're more valuable than his own life to him," M-21 agreed.

Frankenstein sighed. "And that is the reason he is more valuable than my own to me. To the nobles, he is the Symbol of Strength:" when the word Virtue meant strength, strength not merely of the body but of the unconquerable soul. "Master is my ideal, the living avatar of the principles I dedicated myself to over a thousand years ago, but he is also a _person_ who was alone for so very long, to spare others the fear of him even as he protected them. I want to give him everything, and my soul is part of everything." His mind, his will, his thoughts, his breath: the things he'd defended to the death from so many other vampires, from the Union? They were what he wished most to give to Raizel, in the hope that they would give him especial joy. "You are welcome in my master's home _always_ , M-21. We will do everything we can to keep you safe."

"You said you could remove Union programming from M-24's mind. Do you think you could unlock my memories?" If there was even a chance, then M-21 would be willing to pay even this price to keep his promise to his comrades.

"Even nobles don't have perfect recall, unfortunately. The Previous Lord forgot his own name over the ages of being called simply Lord." No, he couldn't search M-21's subconscious for those lost names. Hmm. Yes, that might work.

He leaned back in his chair, removing his glasses to toy with them. "Then again, perfectly obedient servants have their uses. I'm fond of the janitorial staff at this school." He was very particular about them, of course – they were caring for the place of Master's happiness. "And of course I can't allow the others to get out of doing their share of the chores, but I'm sure I could find _something_ to do with you…"

No, no, entirely the wrong tack to take, he saw from the blushing. He had assumed that M-21's mind would leap to the threat of being experimented on, when there was a little menace in his voice. That it would remind him what it was usually like to be in someone's power.

He restrained a sigh. Well, thankfully he had a great deal of practice handling unwanted crushes even before he became a high-school Chairman and most of those crushes were from among the _underage_.

Then again, thanks to the Union wiping the memories of their test subjects, in terms of his understanding of ordinary human relationships, much less human _kindness,_ M-21 was younger than all of his students.

"If you took your vial, have the others destroyed theirs?" Unless M-21 had simply cut his wrist to obtain the blood, the way Frankenstein had that day. It would be impossible to tell when M-21 healed that fast, but he hoped not. He'd been injured far too many times as it was.

"Not when I left."

Frankenstein had gone back to school early to avoid them as much as to get caught up on the paperwork. He should have taken care of the vials first… but then, they deserved to see them. To know the danger and make their own decisions.

"If they don't destroy the vials, I will." He pinched the bridge of his nose and put his glasses back on. The glasses were practical, for hiding how acute his vision really was. Reading glasses and other little things helped convince others that he was aging. It was almost time to leave Korea and found another school when Master appeared here. "I had never done that before. It was unpleasant, and I do _not_ wish to do it again. I'm just glad Mark was an enemy already marked for death. If he was alive, if I still sensed his mind?" he shuddered. If _any_ of them were still alive, but he wasn't going to mention that. If t'were done, t'were best done thoroughly. Once was already one too many: he had to make it not necessary a second time.

He might have been conflicted over keeping Crombel, torn between repugnance and the useful intelligence he could provide. But he took Yuri first and it became clear that no, keeping Crombel would not give him a trusted spy in the Union, so he could give a sigh of relief and just kill the bastard.

"It would be _worse_ with any of you. It would bother me to think of any of you in a situation where you could be used and taken advantage of, and contracting to you? I can't even take proper care of Master." He winced, realizing the confession that had just slipped out of him. They hadn't wanted the children to worry.

M-21's eyes flashed around desperately before finally a hand patted his shoulder – M-21, imitating Master. He looked ready to jump back and run for the door, if that was something Frankenstein wouldn't tolerate from anyone else. It made his lips twist in a smile.

"You gave me a home," M-21 said. "For Takeo, and Tao, and M-24."

"It was Master's decision," Frankenstein told him. "Master's generosity. The same as he did for me, long before we contracted." No need to tell M-21 the whole story, although in the _human_ world, a house like that would fall apart without servants to look after it in the blink of an eye from a noble's perspective. "Don't try to slip blood into Master's tea. If it is your will, he might drink it, and you don't have enough control over yourself and your power yet."

"Don't have enough control for what?"

"To avoid calling on his power. When a human is merely controlled by blood, they can only use whatever powers their controller permits. In a contract, our souls are bound together. The power of my soul would be his to call on… or they would be, if the Noblesse was capable of using powers other than his own life and soul, and I may call freely on his. He has so little left." He could not risk someone contracted to him using his bond to Master to call on Master's power, but he didn't want M-21 to know that he had endangered Master, trying to pledge his loyalty to them. That would be cruel. "When Tao and Takeo come in, tell them to get those vials destroyed. I'd rather not even look at blood right now. And fetch me another cup of coffee." Frankenstein gave him a stern look, holding out the cup M-21 had given him. "In a different cup, but I want this one _sterilized_."

M-21 took it with a quick gesture that was more of a head-bow than a nod and fled the room.

People these days were far too casual with blood. As a doctor, blood banks delighted him: as a vampire hunter, they _terrified_ him. Thank _goodness_ M-24 was too weak for that 'infected' he'd created to have enough power to set up secondary links to other victims, otherwise they would have had a mutant plague on their hands when Jake took that infected to a blood bank.

And the Union showed no signs of backing down from a confrontation with Lukedonia despite losing multiple elders. They simply weren't going to have the enhanced manpower to keep refugees from escaping, and most of their enhanced humans couldn't even sense nobles! How did they expect to track down shapeshifters whose psychic abilities would let them quickly imitate natives if they lost their arrogance, the way fleeing the destruction of their homeland would force them to? It was only the mutants who were vulnerable to sunlight: if any purebloods escaped that could be a dozen generations of vampires who would have to obey that noble before they started to produce mutants instead.

It was the Union's intention to supplant humanity as Earth's dominant species. Even if they failed, if they managed to destroy Lukedonia's ability to enforce its laws, it would be the nobles who ruled a world where humans were prey. Then there were the werewolves, who needed to be constantly reined in by Lukedonia's superior numbers and political unity even when the human-friendly Muzaka was the Werewolf Lord. He didn't need to see a werewolf among the Elders to know that they were involved in the Union. Almost certainly involved in sabotaging its ability to actually _win_ for their own species' advantage.

When the powerful fought for more power, played their little games, human lives, entire cities were devoured.

And Cadis Etrama di Raizel was still convinced that the only purpose of his existence, the only reason he had any life-force to spend, was to spend it putting a stop to the powerful when they abused the weak.

There were _seven billion_ humans on this planet, and the Noblesse knew it. Frankenstein himself was the one who had put together that overview of the current state of the world.

It would not be possible to make him sit this one out. He would protect the humans who lacked the power to protect themselves, thanks to the Union enforcing a monopoly on human enhancements to _keep_ humans weak.

Frankenstein couldn't stop him. Couldn't save him.

He would be there doing the same, as Dark Spear devoured him.

If it was possible to stop Raizel, his beloved Master, from protecting this world, then Frankenstein would never have knelt before a noble.

So he would fight and die to protect his master and this world, humans and the nobles like Seira alike. His master would fight and die to protect both the honor of the nobles and the humans who died before reaching their third century.

He was never one to give in to fate, but he was a scientist. One first had to acknowledge reality in order to change it. Yet… above all else… These were the children they had decided to protect, no matter the cost. As long as they survived, then… then their lives had meaning. That of the Noblesse, and that of the Father of Human Enhancement.

Raizel was an entirely different species from him. Their lives had nothing in common until they met. How on earth had they ended up so perfectly, frustratingly alike?


	3. The Talk

_In Noblesse 'verse, the selling of contracts by corrupt nobles is probably the origin of the selling your soul to the devil myths in medieval Europe, and the connection between damned souls and vampirism._

 _While Noblesse definitely doesn't follow traditional depictions of vampires, a lot of those traditional depictions/myths/stories end up turning out to exist for actual valid reasons other than because primitive humans were stupid._

 _Eg, the 'vampire, werewolf, same thing' in medieval Europe – werewolves were working with the Union and traitor nobles._

* * *

"He said no?" Takeo asked when M-21 slunk into Tao's security control room.

"He'd never done it before, and he hated it. He wants all the vials destroyed."

"Is that a good idea?" Tao asked, spinning his chair around. "I mean, we were just Awakened, and the lab was destroyed. Doesn't he need before and after blood samples to check how we're doing?"

"What if he's reluctant to draw blood from us, if he thinks we won't trust him with it?" Takeo asked, frowning as he continued to clean his gun. "And having uncontaminated blood samples from the children might help if anything happens to them."

Tao and M-21 winced.

"He made me feel like a little kid, asking for something like that." M-21 wanted to default to resentment, because usually when people were older and wiser than he was and left him feeling confused, like he'd done something wrong or just generally inferior in the Union, it was the Union. Internal terror and trying to not seem weak when _everyone knew he was_ because the weak were put down were the only sane responses.

He didn't want to be used against everyone like this again. Now he felt like he'd done something as wrong as asking Raizel to awaken the (fake) M-24, only unlike the way-too-kind-for-his-own-good Noblesse, Frankenstein would say no. Unless it was Raizel asking.

He'd wanted to not mess up anymore, but he'd messed up again. It helped a bit to know that Frankenstein had felt… something like the way he felt now once, but it almost made it worse, because seeing those two as fallible people like him just made him realize how much he needed to _help_ them.

How must Tao and Takeo feel, when despite trying to get stronger so they wouldn't be a burden, they were beaten up and captured by Union agents and they had to watch Raizel _pass out_ saving lives the Union taught them were worthless?

 _He_ had always been so unimaginably strong, Frankenstein had always known what to do, and to see Raizel on the noble version of life support, not even to make him better, just to try to _stabilize_ his condition so he didn't fall apart even without using any more power and Frankenstein out of options because of their own weakness? Raizel _couldn't_ just let them die, and Frankenstein couldn't stop the Noblesse from saving human lives, _their_ lives.

M-21 wasn't the only one to feel like he had to make up for this somehow, had to give them something to make up for what they'd sacrificed because of him. ' _We didn't do this for gratitude, or to be remembered,'_ Raizel had told the children. That meant that thanks and giving them things weren't want they wanted, but then how was he supposed to ever repay this?

Their limitless generosity made him feel so small. What if he lost this, his home, everything, because he screwed up? What if he lost _them_ , because he was too weak and _stupid_ to protect them?

" _No one but Frankenstein has ever wanted to protect me before_ ," Raizel said when M-21 tried to get him to run away, before stepping forward to be the one to protect him from the two Union Elders.

He knew that the fact he was trying meant a lot to _him_ , but he didn't want to try and fail to protect them, he wanted to actually protect them, be an asset instead of a burden!

Now Raizel's body or life force or whatever was falling apart, like M-24's, and M-21 didn't want to watch, to _hear_ the person he wanted to protect telling him that it wasn't his fault he was weak and useless, that he should live. Hearing them worry about M-21 when they were _dying._ He couldn't go through that again.

He _had_ to get stronger, but he couldn't risk draining Raizel's lifeforce, _again_ , to do it.

"Well, the boss _is_ like over a thousand years old," Tao said. "He's good at acting like he isn't, but we're still only twice the age of his students." He probably meant to reassure M-21 that it wasn't him, Boss did that to _everyone_ , but the reminder of how _stupid_ he was compared to the people who had taken him in didn't help. He didn't want to be the chink in their armor.

It wasn't his fault, they would say if he asked. He'd done the best he could.

Like a failed experiment's best was worth anything.

Like he'd ever be worth anything, like he'd ever be able to help them when they needed help. "My memories were wiped, and a lot of the time I do remember was in that lab. I bet he thinks I'm not any older than Regis." M-21 winced, realizing his mistake.

"Who is a hundred and ninety-nine years old," Takeo reminded him, hair swishing as he examined M-21.

"Let's not remind them that we don't remember before the Union got us, ok?" Tao said, looking thoughtful. "Although he knows Union SOP."

The DA agents were wiped too; that was how Aris got her hooks into Takeo, the modified human not knowing he hadn't had a sister before. Not one like her, anyway. Hopefully.

"I'm less than Ikhan's age, then," Tao said, leaning back in the chair to look up at the ceiling. "Well, if contracts are off the table, how are we going to get stronger? Does it have to be _him,_ thought? We've got other nobles around." He tilted back down, looking at Takeo. "RK-03."

Normally it took awhile to realize what Tao was getting at and if he was serious. Staring at him, M-21 wished it took longer this time.

Tao kept smiling at them undaunted as they stared at him, so Takeo was the one to have to speak and say, "Weren't you listening when Regis and M-21 told us about this? It's illegal in Lukedonia."

"Yeah, Regis' Grandpa'd be angry at us, but if it's okay for Boss and _him…_ But Boss does what he wants, and who's going to give _him_ a hard time?" Darn.

"He'll feel it," M-21 said. "Regis is a kid; I'm not bothering him like that just to get stronger." The entire point was for the rest of them not to suffer because he was weak!

"Seira thinks of all of us as kids," Tao said, leaning back again in the chair. "It'd be kind of nice if Boss does too."

"It would be one thing to see us as adults and treat us like children, but to feel that we are children and still treat us like adults free to make our own decisions…" Done, Takeo closed his gun and began concealing it in his clothes.

"Boss said that window was the only precious thing _he_ had." Was Tao _blushing_ , just for a moment? "Do you think we're precious to _him_? Like the kids? And if we're precious to _him_ , then we are to Boss, too. Since Boss wants _him_ to be happy."

"It doesn't matter," Takeo said, shaking his head, hair swishing behind him now that he'd stood up. "They're family." They all remembered Aris, but Takeo lifted his head. "The importance of protecting family is something I decided for myself." A part of who he was the Union hadn't been able to erase.

"I was looking up vampires in case Rael came after us again-" Tao started to say. Seeing their 'what' expressions, he explained that, "I figured we could attack while he went into apoplexy. Of course, I'm going to need to work on my script – it isn't much help to say Edward Cullen was based on him without explaining who Edward Cullen is – but in some of the stuff people have made up? If a vampire drinks your blood and that makes you another vampire, they're now your father."

Takeo looked from Tao to M-21. "After what _he_ did for us, for all of us," because M-21 was Awakened before, "is that really necessary?" He shook his head.

M-21 closed his eyes. Even Tao was silent in agreement. For a moment. "So, if contracts really are out," said the self-appointed Number 01 of the knights Raizel hadn't asked for, "We need to find some other way to get stronger." The Union was going to send more people to investigate the loss of two more Elders, and they _couldn't_ let it get bad enough that Raizel had to wake up and come save them while he was still in critical condition.

"I've considered asking Frankenstein to train me," said Takeo. Right, he'd _fought_ Frankenstein, M-21 remembered, and winced sympathetically. "But I haven't felt strong enough for it to be worth his time."

"Yeah, he's got more combat experience than _anyone_." Tao said. "Even more than Regis' grandpa, I'm sure of it!" Then he sobered. "I'm going to ask him to enhance me, too." The question hung in the air, unspoken because just assuming that someone would want to volunteer for experiments? What if they felt forced into it? They'd all had enough of that at the Union.

Takeo nodded.

M-21 remembered how desperate he and M-24 were to hide that they'd grown stronger. To escape falling back into the hands of the _scientists_ , so they could spend their last days somewhere other than that lab. Now they were talking about _volunteering_ for experiments, and all he could say was, "Yeah."

Honor wasn't a concept in the Union. Trust? He'd trusted M-24, and Crombel and his agents had _spat_ on that trust.

He was going to put himself into the hands of a scientist because he could trust them. And that was what would let him get the power to destroy the Union and find the names they'd taken from him and the other M-series.

He couldn't fail them. Not his fellow experiments, who were with him in that hell. Not the new comrades who were with him now in this place where… If M-24 really had been here with him, he would have had to wonder if his body had finally given out under him.

But _experiments_. That weren't Frankenstein wanting his recipes taste-tested.

No, no, it was sparring with him that was going to suck worse, M-21 thought, a hand reaching up to touch his chest, wincing at the memory of those wounds that refused to heal.

There were scarier things in the world than being experimented on? Really?

Losing them, any of them, ever again… yes. That was scarier.

* * *

"Come in," Frankenstein said absently, hearing the knock on his door. One of these days he had to get around to training Tao in how to do some of this paperwork, or getting a secretary, but Master was so happy here. What if someone else, who didn't know Master's taste as well, missed some key detail?

They came in to stand in front of his desk, but didn't say anything. The aura was too serene for his visitor to be Regis, so, "Yes, Miss Seira?" Another day he might have said, 'What can I help you with?' but she might perhaps be here with a message from the Lord.

Gejutel was more likely, to both tell Frankenstein that he was severely disappointed in him and to see if Frankenstein was alright, as if being a human still automatically made him a child in need of looking after despite all his centuries, that irritating old noble.

"I was not aware that you were contracted to the Noblesse," Seira said, elegantly composed as usual.

Well, of course she hadn't been. She might be his student, but Master liked his privacy; most nobles did, and unlike the Twelfth Elder Frankenstein had competent mental shielding. Frankenstein didn't lie to the household, and preferred not to hold back information if they asked, but first they had to ask.

Seira was his favorite _because_ she was willing to ask. Well, state her wish to know something.

Nobles did not ask personal questions, or pry. It simply wasn't done, not when they had used psychic abilities long before they started using language, and using psychic powers to pry into someone's innermost thoughts was _clearly_ wrong. Then, when they picked up words from the human populations that clustered around them, they'd treated them as essentially the same thing. The unethical, or 'inelegant' nature of trying to break into someone's mind and force them to bare their private thoughts kept them from asking questions, and the taboo against being noisy caused them to attempt to tactfully ignore the words of anyone who went around being _talkative_ , because realizing that they'd spoken significant amounts would obviously embarrass them later, once they regained their senses. That meant that if they needed information, they either had to resort to their psychic abilities, when not reading private thoughts unnecessarily was the entire point, or attempt to throw out bait and see if anything bit. The fact she remained standing in front of his desk indicated this was a matter of some importance.

Tao was an inquisitive child, but he was still far too scared of scientists to go up to one and admit that he was ignorant on some matter and ask for instruction. Finding out things on his own was what he was designed to do, and he knew what the Union did to failures. Frankenstein could give him materials and self-study projects, try to nudge him into finally beginning to ask questions with 'you didn't ask,' but it was Seira who tasted his cooking and indicated that she wished to learn from him the very day she moved into his home.

The combination of a student willing and eager to learn and how much her personality resembled Master's made him very fond of her as soon as he knew she wasn't a danger to his master. Regis was a brat, but Seira was a very responsible young woman, trying to bear far too much of the weight of the world on her shoulders. Noble or not, she was a child, and children deserved care regardless of species.

He remembered being that age. Both by human standards and noble standards.

This was likely to take awhile. Seira knew that he preferred for her to simply say when she wanted to learn something, the way she'd stated that she wanted combat training and believed he was the only one who could teach her what she needed to learn. It had to be a delicate matter for Seira, with her practiced control over her emotions, to feel enough embarrassment to ignore her teacher's known preference and 'ask' this way instead. That itself would be embarrassing her further, and like Master she defaulted to noble reserve when uncertain or strained. He'd have to be gentle with her instead of pushing, or this would take even longer.

During which this paperwork would be here, making his desk untidy. What if some of it blew off his desk and made a mess on the floor? But, Seira was a precious student.

Frankenstein smiled and stood up. "Why don't I get us some tea."

Even with the tea, Seira's focus remained on him, instead of entirely centered on the experience of drinking the tea.

It made him twist his lips in a smile. Well, she was very young for a noble, but still. This must be something _very_ important to her. He hadn't been given a chance to observe noble children or even the equivalent of younger teenagers like Seira and Rael on Lukedonia, other than Raskreia, otherwise he might have had a better chance of figuring out that Ragar and Urokai were _significantly_ younger than Master despite looking older. After the Union's rumors and the truth about his experiments on nobles, no noble but the eccentric lord was going to allow their children _anywhere near him_.

Then, of course, he kept company with the Noblesse, when 'be good or the Noblesse will be forced to send you into eternal sleep' was what the clan leaders used to teach their heirs.

Frankenstein's housekeeping and combat student was no more cautious around Master than she was with himself, even with Regis to protect. Since the two of them were so much alike, she worried Master less than the others did. It made Frankenstein smile to see them drinking tea together, Seira expressing her admiration for Master's calm and elegance by visibly imitating it. Master was always so touched that someone would find a pariah like him a model to emulate.

As for Regis, the child orphaned at a mere hundred viewed Rai's elegance and Frankenstein's fealty to his master as role models to emulate. After Gejutel, of course, but finding that Frankenstein drank blood and used, well, _ex-_ human minds as his pawns would have upset him. Frankenstein couldn't have Regis thinking that Frankenstein's actions reflected on the Noblesse. Or thinking too deeply on what the Noblesse's duty _really_ was, outside of these unusual circumstances where things were as simple and clean as executing Union Elders and agents.

Not when Master adored children as much as a _proper_ noble, and for him to have human children who wished to play with him and noble children who didn't see him as the bogeyman? Frankenstein would not let him wake up to find Regis avoiding him. Not out of cowardice, but so Gejutel didn't have to suffer losing his grandson so soon after his son.

"Sir Gejutel made contracts in the past, before the nobles were commanded to cease their interference in human affairs," she said, trying to focus her gaze on her tea while maintaining a reserved expression. "He has never spoken of the details."

That old man – "Sir Gejutel," he said with more respect than usual, because the Landegre clan leader had raised Seira since she was little more than a century old, "is acting properly." As always. "Contracts are personal matters. If they were his own personal matter I'm sure he would tell you, but he can't speak of someone else's personal matter without obtaining their permission." And those humans were long-dead. Gejutel wouldn't have made any contracts since the Previous Lord… the _Previous_ Previous Lord, these days, created Lukedonia and nobles had trouble remembering details from that long ago. Even important details, like _their own names_. "Until we encountered the bonded of Roctis Kravei, I thought it likely that there hadn't been another contract in centuries." Since himself.

The Union, at least whichever elders were aware of his existence after the Union tried to erase him from their history and slander his good name, must have heard of his contract with Raizel from the traitor nobles. He'd hoped that their hatred for him would make contracts unpopular. He hadn't expected that when he made contact with the Union again, even their researchers would be completely unaware of what used to be basic concepts. The historical foundation of human enhancement. And the original Union's power, for that matter.

"Ah," Seira said, lowering her teacup, attempting to hide her embarrassment at having come so close to prying. She knew he wanted her to ask questions, but her respect and fondness for him meant she really didn't want to insult him by _prying_.

He smiled reassuringly, letting her know there was no need to beat a hasty retreat, he was just teasing her a little. He was probably still a little too fond of toying with nobles, even the ones who truly did have nothing to do with the mutant outbreak. Seira wasn't even born back then. "My Master has given me leave to tell all of you whatever you need to know. I can tell you what a true contract is like, from the human's perspective."

Her relief was palpable for someone with long practice reading Master's moods. "I am always grateful for your instruction."

He smiled. "I'm always happy to help my students."

The KSA was firmly under his thumb and knew better than to come anywhere near his students, but Shinwoo had come to the attention of Crombel's agents too many times. Crombel might be dealt with, but _Yuri's_ reports were beyond Frankenstein's reach. Finally killing him would keep him from sending more, but the First Elder would be a problem.

The Union's _records_ only contained their slander, but someone must remember what he was really like.

That before he met Master, his students were the fastest way to his heart.

They would be aware that Shinwoo was a martial arts genius, but have Yuri's confirmation that this meant nothing. The Union's belief that their enhancements made them superior was the reason so many of them hadn't been able to resist letting Shinwoo fight them for the sake of their egos. For all his talent and training, he simply didn't have the enhanced strength and speed necessary for it to be a fair fight.

Shinwoo didn't.

 _The Bonded of Seira Loyard_ could be able to fight not on the level of an ordinary contractor, but a pureblood noble like Regis.

The Twelfth Elder had never drawn on Roctis' soul weapon, which was merely one of the things that made Frankenstein certain that the bond had been tampered with somehow. Then again, seeing a mere human call on her family's soul weapon for power, even if he wouldn't be able to wield it? Ignes would have pitched a fit.

The very ability to call on Master's true power that made his bond with Frankenstein potentially deadly to the Noblesse would allow the Death Scythe to Awaken both Seira and Shinwoo. A clan leader's soul weapon could only Awaken the soul of that clan leader, but it could do that because it was bonded to their soul. So if a third person was bonded to the soul weapon through the clan leader, it should be possible for a complete soul weapon to Awaken them as well.

If Frankenstein's theories were correct.

Which, of course, they were. They had _better_ be, when harnessing the principles behind soul weapons was his best chance of extending his master's lifespan.

* * *

Regis confronted him in his office shortly after the end of the last period.

Of _course_ he did: the Landegre were always ones to attack matters head-on. A refreshing quality in a noble, when it came to conversation instead of combat. Seira had come during physical education class – a sacrifice for her to miss Shinwoo in action. The nobles had standing permission to play hooky from that class whenever they wished. He'd managed to press that on them by pointing out to Seira that Regis was still underage, and it would be a pity if there was a mishap with his strength on a day he was feeling distracted. However, to avoid Regis feeling singled out and ashamed, of _course_ he would have to extend the same precaution to her. And as a responsible adult, the Loyard clan leader would set a good example by refraining from participation in PE under any circumstances in which she would wish Regis to do the same.

Seira was pushing herself far too hard to become an adult. At least she was still willing to admit that she needed to test and refine her control, although he wished she hadn't tested it on his good cookware.

After he'd finally let her graduate from the practice set he bought her – only the highest quality materials, of course, but it was in need of aging.

He hadn't been much older than Seira when he first visited Lukedonia, but the difference between them? Even if both of them were painfully aware that _people died_ , and determined to prevent it.

The little Landegre prince wasn't looking at Frankenstein with the contempt he'd given Rael. Regis' expression still made him chuckle. "Well, I can see the resemblance to Gejutel."

"How could you use the power _he_ entrusted you with so inelegantly?" Regis asked him, looking affronted, disgusted… trying not to look betrayed. "There's nothing worse than forcing people to do things against their own wills!"

Regis really didn't have any idea, did he? That forcing people to do things they wouldn't ordinarily do, and certainly didn't wish to do, was much of the Noblesse's duty. Things like telling him all their most inelegant thoughts, fears and _plans_. Coming to visit the Noblesse when they were contemplating things that would very likely end in Raizel forcing them into eternal sleep.

Raizel would never execute someone merely for having an _idea_ , or else Frankenstein would have died within minutes of their contract. It was the choices people made that defined them. But when thought could lead to action, he'd been forced to monitor those clan leaders very closely, as they told themselves that they were monitoring him.

Obviously Frankenstein wasn't going to tell Regis how… inelegant the Noblesse's duty ordinarily was. "For someone to be forced to act against their own will is a violation of their self, soul, integrity. What do you call what the Union did to M-21, Tao and Takeo, by stripping them of their memories, of their knowledge of who they are, and forcing them to serve their violators? Of course, I'm not going to teach you that evil is any less evil if they did it first. A necessary evil is still an evil. However, all my options were worse. Leave Master's sleeping body undefended while I tried to hunt down Crombel? Unthinkable. And if I found myself in difficulties, it would wake him when he desperately needs to hibernate until the latest wound inflicted on his lifeforce…" Not 'stops bleeding.' Raizel did not have the resources to heal, not anymore. Frankenstein needed to focus on designing and constructing a seal capable of holding in his lifeforce. "I do not have time to waste tracking down an Elder of the Union and getting into fights when I must focus on Master."

The Landegre heir was raised to value loyalty. He understood that Frankenstein couldn't abandon the Noblesse, even while Frankestein was equally duty-bound to keep his own work from being used to abuse the weak – and damn that canny old fool Gejutel, for leaving two young, impressionable clan leaders and future clan leaders in his grasp. He must be counting on the fact that Frankenstein would _have_ to mentor them, make sure they understood their responsibilities and how many would suffer if they did not live up to their principles, both for Master's sake and humanity's.

It was already clear Gejutel had drawn on what he learned from watching Frankenstein while instructing Regis.

Until Frankenstein encountered Rael, Regis was the rudest little brat of a noble he'd ever seen. Urokai at least had to be provoked, and others hid their contempt for the human or seeing an enhanced human as a carnival freak (World's Strongest Mere Human) reaching above their station under a veneer of noble civility. By noble standards, Regis was atrociously arrogant with nothing to back it up…

…And enraging those who were stronger than him was _Frankenstein's_ strategy. It gave the weak an advantage against the strong. And against traitor clan leaders like the one who killed Regis' father, Gejutel's grandson was terribly, nightmarishly weak. Regis _knew_ he was weak, and that was much of why he went on the offensive. Or why Gejutel hadn't scolded that inelegance out of him. Insults were being _talkative_ , as well.

Regis looked like he wanted to object, insist that Frankenstein should have found another way.

But he already knew that being an adult… that being Regis' father didn't make someone perfect or invincible. Didn't mean they couldn't be pushed to the wall and find themselves out of options.

Regis _wanted_ to think that of course Frankenstein hadn't _really_ had to do it. That there must have been another way. But there hadn't been. Not unless he was willing to let innocents suffer at the hands of the Union. Just like Master had no alternative but to awaken Tao and Takeo.

"You are correct, Regis. It was disgusting. I should not have done it. I should have taken better precautions so I did not have to profane my bond to Master like that. It is because I failed to have the back-up lab ready that two of Master's loyal knights almost died, and Master was forced to summon forth so much power for their sake."

Regis swallowed, gathered himself to ask the unpleasant question. "…How much power?"

"More than it took to execute the Elders. Only the Lord and the Noblesse have sufficient power to perform Awakenings. Even Clan Leaders can't bring forth the full potential of anyone but themselves, and only by summoning their soul weapons."

"…You must save him," the little noble told him, and if it weren't for the fact those red eyes were wide and pleading, Frankenstein would have informed him that he didn't _have_ to do anything some noble told him to do.

Yes, Master, but his allegiance to Master was a reason to not give obedience to any other noble. Or anyone, for that matter. He couldn't _cheapen_ it, now could he?

"I am doing everything he will permit me to do," Frankenstein promised the child. "Now that Master has allowed me to resume research, and I've had the chance to… at least try to observe the mechanics of what his power does to him," obviously he couldn't let Raizel waste his power by asking him to perform a technique in laboratory conditions. "My chances are… better."

"You did not stop him from saving Tao and Takeo. Even though they did not choose to live at _his_ expense."

"No. I did not stop him. If I stood in his way, he would have ordered me to stand aside. He would have gone through me, if need be. If he was someone who could stand by and watch humans die in front of him without doing whatever it took to save them, no matter the cost to himself, I would not have pledged myself to him. He has my blood, Regis. He could do to me what I did to the false M-24 and Dr. Crombel."

"He wouldn't!" Regis declared, shocked that anyone, but especially _Frankenstein,_ would insult such a noble being like that.

"Exactly," Frankenstein agreed. "But there have been many nobles who would. I saw the bodies, was forced to mercy kill the mutants they left behind. Cadis Etrama di Raizel is a paragon among nobles: that is why you are here, to demand an explanation for why I disgraced myself when that would reflect poorly on him. You must consider the power you and the other nobles hold, Regis. You must consider how many humans will have their souls violated if you turn a blind eye to others' abuse of that power. The revulsion you felt when you heard that I drank someone's blood and made use of them, turned them against their master? Remember it, Regis. Remember it well."

* * *

 _And after they get home episode 264 events happen, and on to Training From Hell in how to survive fights above your weight class from the reigning champ when it comes to starting out an ordinary human and ending up in fights with clan leaders, if contracts are not available as a power-up._

 _When the others ask Frankenstein for training, he keeps giving reasons he shouldn't train the other four, and finally ends with 'I can't risk killing you when Master saved your lives,' which should be a flat out no, not happening. Then Seira goes 'I would like to learn,' and he's 'Oh well, if_ you _want to learn this Seira…' Yeah. Everyone in that house knows who Frankenstein's favorite is (after Rai). Know the 'how dare you let them get away when they did this to my kids' scene? Frankenstein had a scene like that about Seira_ seasons _earlier._

 _The fact she's basically what would happen if he and Rai had a kid likely helps, but he has a soft spot for students (see Tesamu) and Seira gets stuff done (including telling people things!), so he is a proud step-papa._


	4. Sanctuary

_When I was first reading the webtoon, exactly what was up with Frankenstein calling Rai Master was one of the driving questions – mind control is a major part of Rai's skillset, and there was a strong possibility that Frankenstein used to be evil enough to justify drastic measures._

 _I was trying to think of how to describe how they acted and said that Frankenstein was acting much more like a doting cat owner than an actual slave._

 _You know, the people who say the cat is the boss even though it's the human who owns the house, etc. Rai being standoffish and dignified but coming over when Frankenstein is upset…_

 _It's really fun to learn more about the characters and watch the characters' understandings of each other evolve in this webtoon. The trio's understanding of Rai going from 'terrifyingly powerful and WTF strange' to 'precious cinnamon roll to good for this world…. Literally? Crap, what do we do?' is that combination of hilarious, heartwarming and tragic that_ Noblesse _pulls off so well._

* * *

After they asked Frankenstein to train them, M-21, along with Tao, Takeo and Regis had trained with him half the time, and Seira trained with him on the island the other half, because they had to take turns guarding Raizel while he slept.

It took all four of them to equal Seira? No, she was a clan leader with a soul weapon. They didn't equal her. It was enough that Frankenstein trusted them enough that he was willing to leave Raizel with only the four of them as protection.

Then they got the news that more Union Elders had arrived and started blowing up downtown in order to call out the nobles who'd taken out the 'double-digit errand boys,' as Frankenstein was calling the Elders they'd faced so far.

They'd hurried home on the helicopter, but while they were still en route, Seira had left the house to fight the Elders before they killed any more humans. Frankenstein had to hurry to join her, but before jumping out of the helicopter he'd given the rest of them strict orders to get home and _stay_ there to guard the sleeping Raizel.

Tao had snapped off a salute and said, "Don't worry, the RK-4 won't let anyone past us, and if he wakes up and tries to leave the house we give him puppy dog eyes, got it – sorry, M-21!"

This wasn't the first time they'd been left out of a probable fight, even if this time Regis would be staying home with them.

When Frankenstein and Raizel went back to Lukedonia after Seira was summoned home by the Lord and Regis' Grandpa was probably in trouble, they'd taken Regis because the kid was worried, but the three enhanced humans were not invited along.

It made sense: when Lukedonia thought of enhanced humans, they thought of the _Union –_ that was pretty clear from Regis, Gejutel and Rael. They'd look at M-21 and the former DA-5 agents and see scum who'd abandoned humanity for mere _power_.

Which was probably along the lines of 'betraying your species for the sake of really nice hair,' for nobles, since while power was the obsession of the Union, nobles were just kind of born with it and if you wanted more there was clearly something wrong with you.

Nobles saw power not as something that let you do whatever you wanted, but a reason you were stuck doing a bunch of things for other people. Volunteering for more power was probably like volunteering to do the dishes in Frankenstein's house: hope you like wearing an apron.

Tao gestured for Takeo to shut the helicopter door after Frankenstein jumped out.

"Why didn't you let me object?" Regis demanded as soon as it closed.

"It's an important duty, right?" Tao reminded him. "Protecting the Noblesse? And this is an RK-4 meeting, Regis. We need a plan."

"For if the Union defeats Frankenstein and Miss Seira?" Takeo asked, frowning.

As powerful as the two of them were, they were fighting Union Elders, and everyone in the helicopter knew that the world wasn't kind enough to let you keep people just because you loved them.

Tao shook his head. "For when _he_ wakes up. Boss'll have to use Dark Spear to fight Union Elders, and it's trying to eat his soul. If he gets distracted, or tired, or it tastes blood or he has to summon more power than usual, he'll start to have trouble, and the contract means that if Boss' soul starts getting eaten, _he'll_ feel it. There's no _way he_ would have gone to sleep even for a little while if _he_ didn't have a way to know to wake up and help us if we were in trouble, and I bet that's it. Boss has to know it, but he can't let the Elders win, or kill Seira, so he'll still have to go all-out and hope he can beat them before the Noblesse wakes up and gets there if things get rough."

Regis looked stricken for a second, then slammed down a mask of determined noble composure and nodded.

"We can leave the house to protect him if we have to," Tao said. "You know how no one's found that huge lab under the house while putting in water pipes or something? Boss showed me the thing that does it, and he says it'll make the house invisible and intangible too. People'll just walk through a vacant lot, like they can sail right through Lukedonia."

The kid noble blinked. "The Forbidden Area was always empty, but Frankenstein was looking around for something in the woods and a manor appeared. Frankenstein can use that outside Lukedonia?"

"So it's not a normal noble thing?" Tao asked.

Regis shook his head. "The clans have powers only they can use. Authority over the world is the Lord's, although they can order the world to obey others in certain ways. If _he_ can use Blood Fields, maybe Frankenstein could do that because _he_ has that authority?" From the way Regis' eyes narrowed, he could see that Tao was about to ask. "The unique aspect of the Landegre is not of use in combat," he said stiffly.

"Are you sure?" Tao asked. "Remember why Boss was annoyed we didn't get the lab set up first? It's not just combat abilities that are important…"

Regis shook his head as Tao kept talking, cheeks red. Impossible to tell if it was because he was embarrassed, angry, or embarrassed he was angry, or because people were asking prying questions. "Children have no place in combat!" he finally snapped. Then blushed harder, because they all knew he hadn't reached his majority yet. It was why he'd been sent out to South Korea in the first place, to prove he was capable by handling the investigation of a potential mutant before he hit two hundred.

"Children?" Takeo asked.

"It's why there are more Landegre than just Grandfather and myself," Regis said, looking grumpy. "The Landegre have an easier time creating children than other clans. The Loyard were a normal-sized clan, so Seira was the only child. Most clans don't have more than one child at a time – that way, the entire clan can focus on protecting that one child. A lot of the other clans think the Landegre are _careless_ with the lives of children because of how many we had." That was _deeply_ insulting for nobles. Had to be, if inelegant and noisy were fighting words. "Since Grandfather served the Lord as an advisor, there were six Landegre who remained in Lukedonia and survived the traitors' cowardly use of hostages." In the battle where the traitor clan leaders nearly wiped out the Landegre and Loyard clans. "Two of them have already reached their age of majority, but the clan still has two children to protect, and nowhere near enough adults to ensure their safety."

Adding that up, Regis definitely wasn't counting himself as one of those children.

"So you and Seira both had only one parent?" Takeo asked, since he was the only one of the three of them who knew much about ordinary families, from thinking he'd had a sister. M-21 had known theoretically that he… probably had a family once, but he couldn't find them unless he found that name, so there wasn't much point in tormenting himself with what-ifs that weren't about how to survive.

Regis looked down and to the side. Seira's posture was always perfect, and Regis' was most of the time, but his shoulders seemed a little hunched in. "We had two. They decided to make children practically at the same time so we could be 'siblings.' We were created separately so we could be pureblood clan heirs, but we both had a great deal of family. And then we did not anymore," Regis said, doing his best to seem unaffected, but the subject change gave him away. "Rael used to not be so inelegant: he was glad that there were other nobles with siblings, even if my blood isn't related to Seira's. Then Seira lost her parent and he got this ridiculous idea." Regis sniffed. "Saying that Seira was alone when she had myself and Grandfather and she is a _Loyard_."

"A Loyard?" Takeo was the one to ask before Tao could do so eagerly.

"They can speak to people in their dreams. It's why humans called them the gods of death," Regis said. "Even though humans die instead of going to eternal sleep."

"Dreaming… Eternal sleep?" Takeo asked, eyes widening, then he smiled. "That's good. So Seira has her parent with her."

Regis nodded. "Grandfather has said he will pass down Regasus when I reach my majority. It won't make me complete because the Previous Lord asked him not to enter Eternal Sleep, but even if I won't be able to talk to him..." Regis seemed to realize that he was telling people private things and being _talkative_ when they had planning to do and pulled himself together. "Sleep… Yes." He told them that, "I'm certain the Noblesse already knows that the Elders are attacking: Seira would have done him the courtesy of informing him before she left."

So even though Raizel was asleep in that coffin, he might decide to start waking up? "What if he leaves before we even get there?" M-21 wanted to groan. When he pushed back his hair, he was momentarily surprised to see that his fingers weren't already clawed. Of course he wouldn't transform before a fight even started, he didn't have that kind of power to spare.

Was the werewolf heart Crombel implanted influencing his mind? Making him think that his hands shouldn't be human hands, especially not when they were talking about pack members in danger?

Regis gave him a 'did I really just hear you say that?' look. "And assume his Bonded and a clan leader couldn't win their own battles? _He_ has far too much class to insult them like that!"

"Right," M-21 agreed, remembering the time Raizel claimed that he absolutely hadn't blocked that attack because M-21 might not be able to survive it, but because the infected had done or said something vaguely insulting to Raizel that M-21 didn't even remember. At the time, he hadn't really questioned it because Raizel was just _weird_ , but in hindsight? Yeah right. And then he'd Awakened M-21 so M-21 could win on his own, just so that the (failure) enhanced human didn't keep thinking that he was weak or pathetic. "There's still no way he won't wake up if he knows they're in trouble."

Everyone nodded. Takeo with a small, pleased smile, and Regis with the shining eyes he got when something was so admirable! Even if it gave them a problem, when Tao's RK thing meant keeping Raizel from exhausting himself until he dropped dead was their job. If Frankenstein was trusting them with that, too?

Tao was still mission-focused. "How do we keep him inside?"

"Jam the door locks!" M-21 realized.

Everyone just stared at him for a moment, because how was a mere lock refusing to open going to stop someone who could kill people who made _buildings_ vanish? He saw their eyes widen as they remembered Frankenstein and _oh_.

"That's _mean_ ," Tao said, impressed. "If we pile stuff in the hallway to the elevator, that will slow him down and we can try to convince him that Boss really wouldn't like it if _he_ got damaged, either." Tao clapped his hands together in front of his face, bowed his head and squeezed his eyes shut as he said, "Dear god, I mean Boss. Please, please have mercy on us for what we are about to do to your fine china, the champagne glasses and the silk dress shirts."

"Desperate times call for desperate measures," Takeo said, a corner of his mouth turned up. M-21 himself was finding it almost impossible to keep a straight face. It wasn't that this wasn't _serious_ , because stuff getting damaged upset Frankenstein and Raizel really might die, but just… they were talking about stopping one of the most powerful beings on the planet with nothing more than the fact that if he kept moving forward, someone, a _human_ , might be _upset?_

And it would probably _work_ , up until the point where Frankenstein really was in immediate, deadly danger.

* * *

"Have you lost every shred of class you once possessed, Rael?" Regis demanded, the pint-sized noble looking disapprovingly at the one who looked like an older teenager. "This is _his_ home! We can't fight _here!_ Damaging the Noblesse's property because of a personal matter is inelegant!"

Tao and the two looking over his shoulders at the security screens saw Rael's eyes widen in the cameras, but, "And I thought you couldn't get any lower than fighting alongside trash like that!"

That meant them, M-21 knew. Enhanced humans, those who abandoned humanity for power, even if they hadn't asked for this, and power? The Union certainly didn't think they'd given him any _power_.

Rael glared at Regis. "You're hiding behind _him_ the way you hid behind Seira? How _dare_ you tarnish someone else's name with your cowardice! No more excuses – we'll fight where we fought before!

That close to the school? Oh no. Oh no. They might – might – be able to clean up the obstacle course in front of the path to the elevator before Frankenstein saw it, or at least enough he could get through to check on Raizel when he came home after the fight was over, but if the _school_ got turned into a crater? It was just fixed up after Yonsu punched M-21 into a wall!

"Do you think I am stuck here by _choice?"_ Regis demanded. "I have been ordered to remain here on guard duty while the Bonded of the Noblesse _and_ Seira are fighting Union Elders…"

"What!" Rael yelled, red eyes glowing beneath golden curls. "How… you… Even if he _did_ fight my brother, how _could_ you remain in safety while Miss Seira…"

"Because I have been ordered to remain here to guard against cowardly attacks while they do battle!" Regis told him. "How dare _you_ stand here and pick a personal fight when _you_ , unlike me, are at liberty to join that battle?"

True, Rael's snarl acknowledged. "I'll kill you and those vermin _later_ , when your duty is complete and you have no more excuses!" The Kertia vanished right in front of their eyes and cameras.

"Yes!" Tao said into the microphone, punching the air. "Good job, RK-03!"

Regis sniffed. "It's only Rael, but he does have a soul weapon." So he might add some strength to their side even if he'd subtract elegance.

* * *

Raizel's poker face was normally incredible. At first M-21 thought that he was just expressionless, unless he decided to make one. What with not being human.

While Regis had a variety of 'what the fuck' expressions, ranging from the one Tao insisted on calling 'confuzzled' to the one the Union being the Union merited, Raizel really didn't seem to feel shock or confusion… ever, in M-21's experience.

Maybe it was because he was really ancient, or maybe since he'd stayed in that manor almost all the time for so long he was just used to seeing a bunch of things he'd never seen before whenever he stuck his head out the door. He'd woken up after 820 years not long before M-21 met him, so if you thought about it, wanting to take a minute to examine a new thing like automatically opening and closing doors? You'd assume he'd be doing a lot more of that.

If Frankenstein was the first human he'd spent a lot of time around, then he might just figure that massive technological advances were only to be expected of humans.

Carriages that moved around without horses? Heck, for all M-21 knew, Raizel was around before humans figured out the wheel.

Stuff all over the floor _in Frankenstein's house_ , though? Tao had left a half-meter clear in front of the elevator, so hopefully Raizel had time to realize what he was faced with before he stepped on anything.

Tired red eyes looked at them. Raizel had to be wondering why they weren't cleaning this up, but he looked back down at the ground in front of him. Save Frankenstein first, save them from Frankenstein second?

He lifted his foot with the elegance nobles always had in their movements, and they saw him realize that no amount of grace or precision was going to get him through Tao's minefield.

Tied-together shirt tripwires – any motion could disturb a plate balanced on top of a glass and set off a cataclysm.

An ordinary minefield would have put Raizel's life in danger. Except not, given the kind of attack Raizel could casually block (at what price, though?). This one put _them_ in danger of death by angry homeowner.

He looked back up at them.

Tao added on the puppy dog eyes. "Step away from the china and go back to sleep? Please, sir?"

"Frankenstein has given much of himself to Dark Spear, so they may fight united in their wrath." Raizel sighed. "They face Urokai Agvain and Zarga Siriana."

Two of the traitor clan leaders, M-21 guessed.

"They have become offenders I must eliminate," Raizel said, distant sadness in his eyes for a moment. "I must end the battle. A battle between clan leaders in a city…" He blinked, and glanced at Regis.

Regis looked away. "They couldn't… not in a _city_. And then the Union bombed it anyway, to kill everyone who saw what happened. The humans were bombing cities then, but just because humans were killing humans, that did not make it right for nobles to let humans die. Not just to avoid eternal sleep! Humans die, and we do not, so isn't it obvious that… But you will die!" he told Raizel. "That's why you don't have a soul weapon, even though you have predecessors. Your soul can't go to sleep, there won't be any of it left! I can't let you go fight while I'm still awake! Not when you'll die and I'll just go to sleep!"

"While I slept," Raizel said, "those who abandoned the honor of the nobles prospered, and those who embodied it perished. This is why I must be the Noblesse," he said, and floated over the minefield.

It wasn't a leap, although he the way he moved echoed a jump. As graceful as it looked, it didn't make any concessions to physics. M-21 would know, he'd done a lot of roof-hopping.

"You must put Frankenstein's things back," he said when he landed on the other side of them. "Their souls wish to sleep, but they will still fight. I do not think I will be too tired after the sentencing, but if I am indisposed, and Frankenstein finds all those things between him and the Sanctuary?"

 _That_ was what worried Raizel. That Frankenstein might have to break… very _nice_ china, glassware and shirts, but still just _things_ that wouldn't matter to him, not compared to a broken _Raizel_ …

It would just make it even worse for him, and even though Frankenstein called Raizel master, Raizel still thought about his feelings and wanted to spare them as much as he could.

"That you wished to protect me… is more than enough." He turned his head, looking off in some direction and opened the door.

They looked at Tao: doing something about the security doors was his job. "I told you I couldn't get into the safety overrides!" he said. "It must be in there."

M-21 sighed. Yeah, it seemed to matter to Frankenstein that his master wasn't trapped anywhere. "If we're lucky he'll get lost and miss the fight," he said, even though it wasn't likely. There was more of a light show than just Dark Spear in the sky when they landed, and they'd felt the ground shaking every so often before they went down into the lab.

Regis looked downcast. "The Kertia and Sir Karias can fly, and Sir Rozaria's clan can move other things without touching them as well. If the Noblesse has the Lord's power over blood fields, then I should have considered the possibility."

Takeo patted Regis' shoulder and smiled down at the noble when red eyes stared at him. "Well, you heard him. We should get started cleaning this up. I'm sure they'll be home soon."

* * *

 _Spilling a bag of poppy seeds in front of them is one of those traditional anti-vampire things. It's supposed to delay them for a significant amount of time._

 _In Frankenstein's case, doing that on one of his floors would delay him only as long as it takes him to process that you seriously just did that._

 _Getting nobles to wear pink aprons and do household chores one of Frankenstein's little joys in life. The only person exempt from conscription as maid service is Rai. Rai is fine with picking up after his human friends, but the instant he does, Frankenstein starts internally screaming._

 _Which was much funnier before we found out that Rai's dying and Frankenstein takes the 'doctor' thing seriously – when he stole back his data from the Union, he still wanted the medical treatments he invented to spread and help people. The Union: Why We Can't Have Nice Things since (at least) 1100 AD._


	5. Mirror Breaking

_In this AU, with Crombel dead the Trio and Regis didn't end up having to fight some of his minions in and on Ye Ran High School, with attendant property damage. That fight against Crombel's agents left a lot of people injured and poisoned, so Frankenstein had to ignore his own injuries from the battle against the Elders to get them patched up._

 _Rael showed up for his rematch with the Trio and Regis in the middle of that fight. Tao managed to weaponize Rael's 'how dare you speak to me' and Seira obsession to have him fight (and insult) Crombel's people. Here, Regis sent him off towards the main fight instead in the last chapter._

 _The one time Rai goes 'that's an order' at Frankenstein, it is over which of them fights a certain enemy when Frankenstein needs to be intact enough to treat patients after the battle, especially since they were in Ignes' hands. It's triage and tactics, not who gets to be the one to survive, and Frankenstein clearly knows Rai made the right call. Rai's actions (spending power) and Frankenstein's thoughts show they were both pretty damn sure Rai wasn't going to survive that fight, but although they're not happy about it, they're not going to let personal anguish paralyze them when there are lives on the line._

* * *

Frankenstein watched the others as they returned to his house from the battle. Rael first flailed and then bloomed when Rajak said that he was proud of Rael for coming to help Seira… keep the Union Elders from blowing up any more of the city and kill humans who couldn't defend themselves. That obviously wasn't the real reason he'd come, but Rael was sticking close to Rajak's side, willing to pretend to care about humans if it meant more compliments from his big brother.

That meant it would still be easy to bait him into becoming a better person. He was over five hundred years old, therefore Frankenstein's objections to the emotional manipulation of children didn't apply. He had a soul weapon, so it was vital to disarm that ticking time bomb.

Before he became another Urokai Agvain. Another offender for the Noblesse to eliminate.

 _Urokai Agvain_ was (past tense, but not long past enough to keep Master from having to clean up a mess Frankenstein had only made worse) a single-digit Union Elder with _voting privileges_ and by process of elimination, Lagus Tradio wasn't? If Tradio wanted the Union to succeed, someone as hopeless as Urokai would not have been on the board.

That confirmed that the Union and those in its shadow weren't any kind of single enemy that could be defeated or reasoned with. Like the Agvain clan's symbol, it was a hydra, and chopping off any one head would just encourage the other ones to think that the time had finally come to put their 'allies' in their place and assume their rightful rule over the pathetic humans. No wonder the Union was allowed, no, encouragedto be so incompetent, when every single faction in it wanted to set the other factions up to fail.

As for how many clan leader-level combatants, or people who _thought_ they were the equals of the 'young, weak' clan leaders were out there? Who the hell knew, when the Union's factions were all so determined to keep each other from knowing. The roster of elders might have been halved, but that clearly meant nothing.

Thankfully, at least the werewolf and traitor noble factions had failed to think about the fact that since soul weapons grew more powerful with each soul that joined them, the Previous Lord's plan meant that the younger clan leaders all had more power to draw on than the last generation. Except Erga Kinesis di Raskreia and Rajak Kertia, but they had something that made them much more dangerous than raw power… provided they lived long enough to learn anything.

Tradio was alive when Lukedonia was made and the nobles were forced to leave their territories and live there! He had to have seen what the Lords were truly capable of!

No, Frankenstein knew he couldn't understand people like that. Maybe Tradio just wanted that power for himself. Maybe he even simply wanted revenge, for the nobles eliminated so humanity could become independent instead of domesticated.

Speaking of confirmed fears, the Fifth Elder was a werewolf. And she still lived, because Master had told her to tell the Union that the Noblesse had returned.

He wanted to serve as a deterrent, Frankenstein knew. Keeping the powerful terrified of him was part of Cadis Etrama di Raizel's duty. The part that made him confine himself in his manor, because seeing him frightened them and he did not want to do that to them. Even though he must.

It wasn't going to stop the Union. It couldn't. There was no unified 'them' to stop – just three or more factions all aiming to reduce each other and humanity to lesser races. Or extinct ones. And at least one of those factions knew that a Noblesse's power was finite, and all of them would be overjoyed to have someone else eliminate their competition for them.

Seira had been fairly severely injured when Frankenstein arrived at the battle, but her natural healing had taken care of much of it while Frankenstein kept the Elders' attention on him. She had clearly recovered enough to hide all signs of her recent injuries as she leapt gracefully from rooftop to rooftop. Ragar and Rael hadn't exactly escaped unscathed, but Frankenstein's injuries were the worst.

 _Rajak_ and Rael. It wasn't as though Ragar and Rajak were all that much alike, appearances aside. Ragar was, well, blond (Frankenstein was certainly free to reference blond stereotypes when he was one). That song about blonds never having to think used to be far too true for nobles in general, but while Ragar was a bit spacey and genuinely seemed to believe that everything the Previous Lord did was wonderful, he wasn't actually a fool.

He'd only fallen for 'look behind you' a few times. Gejutel, on the other hand...

Rajak was as focused as the blades he summoned. While Ragar had genuinely never encountered a need to press the limits of his abilities, Rajak considered himself weak, and knew that he would have to work and _think_ to win despite that weakness.

It was interesting to see certain of his own traits reflected in Rajak and Regis, the son and grandson of the nobles he probably should have called friends. It was proof that Gejutel and Ragar had truly respected him. Gejutel was still breathing, even though he'd clearly rather not be, but Ragar... Ragar's soul dwelled within Rael's Grandia.

Rael kept pissing off the wrong people and it was only a matter of time until one of them killed him for it. Ragar had done Frankenstein a favor by allowing him to practice keeping control over Dark Spear in combat, so he couldn't just watch it happen. Couldn't force Ragar to watch powerlessly as it happened.

Normal soul weapons improved their summoner's regeneration rate. He had Dark Spear. Well, he couldn't complain; its ability to suppress regeneration was useful when its (their) wrath had a target other than him.

It might take him a little more time than a clan leader (much less a werewolf), but he would heal, and not having any other patients meant he could take some time to recover before confronting Master.

* * *

"That little sleep would not have improved your condition," Frankenstein said, looking into Raizel's eyes after finding him on the balcony.

Nobles normally either focused on one thing at a time, or achieved effortless serenity by emptying their minds of all thoughts, which was another reason why a species with so many thousands of years to spend thinking had so little practice actually thinking. With focus, and decades, centuries, millennia of experience, anything a noble did looked like a meditation of elegant perfection.

Frankenstein wasn't there when the students had brought Master his first bowl of that noodle soup, otherwise he would have served Master something more impressive for his first meal outside Lukedonia. Still, he was sure that Rai was just as elegant then as he was the second time. Other people slurped down ramyeon, failed to think before moving and splattered broth on their uniforms. Cadis Etrama di Raizel could make watching someone eat instant noodles as spiritual an experience as watching someone who had practiced the tea ceremony for decades.

It was obvious when a noble tried to multitask. Most of them were _abysmal_ at it, because they had no idea _how_. When they lived so long, they could afford to do one thing at a time, focusing on doing them correctly and elegantly over quickly. Right now, Master was trying to reassure him and do something else at the same time.

Something like using his shapeshifting powers to hide how much damage the Noblesse's ability to maintain a living body had _really_ taken.

What humans accepted as natural aging was really accumulated damage to their DNA. Nobles didn't show signs of aging unless there was something wrong with them. Not with their borrowed DNA: that was easy to fix, or just replace. With their souls.

How Raizel looked after he'd trained Raskreia, because there was no one else who _could_ show her how to bring out the full potential of the divided Ragnarok?

Just as Gejutel planned, and while Frankenstein could not blame Gejutel for something Master did of his own will, he was not going to _forget_ it.

Frankenstein never wanted to see Raizel like that again. Raizel had noticed his distress, of course he had.

So the noble who gave him sanctuary that night was – had to be – repairing the cells of internal organs before he coughed up any more blood. Had to be repairing damaged pigment genes and overwriting any skin cell that lost elasticity, trying to hide that he was barely able to keep his body from falling apart.

He wouldn't call him on it. His master deserved to have his dignity, and it wasn't just Frankenstein anymore. The kids would worry. He couldn't go to school looking decrepit, either. Shapeshifting was nothing to a noble. Raizel's unhealed soul had to be bleeding several times more power per second than maintaining the appearance of health was costing him.

He still wanted to tell him to stop it, because patients shouldn't conceal their symptoms from their doctors. Frankenstein wanted to tell him that he only going to worry more if the only way he had of gauging his master's condition came from internal bleeding or the trembling hands.

Epileptic seizure. Or a stroke. There was nothing else it could possibly be. Oh, a wounded noble might stagger after being injured, but that was because the human body's regeneration didn't really include nerve cells, and a noble wouldn't learn that they needed to handle that manually until they'd been severely injured in enough battles to get it down. Well, it was Frankenstein's own fault he'd lost that advantage against one of his old sparring partners, from abusing it by going after Ragar Kertia's tendons so often… Not that Ragar hadn't deserved it – why the hell hadn't Gejutel stopped him from creating two pureblood children that close together? It was a wonder the strain hadn't made Ragar the first noble to wind up in Eternal Sleep from their equivalent of childbirth! It was a toss-up whether that would have left Rael more or less traumatized.

Trying to think about the Kertia's problems instead of his master's wasn't helping the desperation curled in his chest, a tightly-wound spring with _nothing he could do_.

It wasn't in him to accept helplessness. If he gave up when faced with the impossible, he would have been eaten by a mutant over a thousand years ago.

No. There had to be something. He already knew he needed to hurry and make seals, more of them, more powerful ones. At least bandage Raizel's wounds, staunch the blood flow, even if those wounds couldn't heal. Dark Spear would be willing to help him: they'd managed to eat much of the Eighth Elder, his soul weakened from what the Union did to make him into their weapon. If he promised Dark Spear more of the Union's monsters, he _might_ have enough willing souls to equal the power of the cross earrings the Previous Lord made for Master with pieces of his own soul, long before Frankenstein came to Lukedonia. When he gave Master a birthday.

Leaving an Elder alive long enough for Dark Spear to finish consuming them for the sake of their vengeance was a risk, but if he could find someone with a weak soul…

"I wish to go to the school," Master told him.

It was the middle of the night, but "Yes, Master."

* * *

Raizel sat at his usual desk in the classroom, staring out the window at the empty playing fields.

Frankenstein stood there, waiting quietly for him to finish thinking. It wasn't an imposition. He was glad that Master wanted to come here. That he was being quiet and resting.

Then the Noblesse turned to him, frowning slightly. Master picked his words carefully, trying to avoid insulting the children by implying that they been inelegant despite making a deliberate mess, or noisy despite insisting on speaking to him when he had young clan leaders to rescue …and Frankenstein.

My, my. More than a thousand years old, and he still hadn't seen it all, it seemed. "Did they… did they really?"

"Ikhan wanted to watch a movie called _Home Alone_ some time ago. It may have given them the idea." In which case it was Raizel's fault Frankenstein's things had ended up on the floor and his shirts were knotted, because the students came over to visit Raizel.

Frankenstein smiled. "Of course, he's a budding computer engineer." Or an engineer period. So no, it wasn't Master's fault he hadn't thought to veto that movie to prevent anyone from getting clever with Frankenstein's things.

They'd tried to use… Preparing the battleground in advance _was_ a valid tactic. One he'd used himself against mutants, especially before he managed to equal their abilities, but trying to use fragile glass and porcelain to confine the _Noblesse_?

"No, Master," he assured him, chuckling. "I'm relieved, not angry. It's so _childish_ of them. So innocent. It's a good sign, that they're reclaiming what was taken from them." They were starting to internalize the idea that people cared about others' feelings, otherwise they wouldn't have hatched a plan relying on it.

Soon after Master woke up, when Frankenstein was trying to gather information on where that coffin had come from and what exactly the Union knew, he'd come home to find a broken window handle on the coffee table, and his master sitting there with the dignity of someone who would make no excuses and accept no pity for their transgression, but expected a just punishment for their crime so they could regain their honor.

Frankenstein was already upset after his fight with Mary. He'd let that arrogant amateur who thought no one else could possibly be a threat to her because she was _superior_ to humanity actually cut his sleeve. Was he _that_ out of practice?

Then he came home to find that Master had sensed the fight and attempted to leave the house to intervene, which meant that Frankenstein was going to have to be careful, or Master would use his power rather than let Frankenstein get into a situation where he might get hurt, without the ability to call on Dark Spear. Not that Raizel was angry when Frankenstein called on Dark Spear, just sad, because he knew how much summoning Dark Spear hurt. Raizel's confusion over the newfangled door mechanism had saved some small fraction of Master's life, but that didn't mean he liked the idea of his noble being trapped in a house again.

That was why he'd encouraged Master when he opened the door by himself to leave on another day, to assure him that yes, it was alright to go outside to do things and explore. M-21's complete confusion was just icing on the cake.

With the door incomprehensible the sheltered noble must have tried the window next – after all, the handle looked about the same as the one in the manor.

…it just turned in the opposite direction from the only window handle Raizel had ever seen.

Piecing together what happened had made him look upset enough that Raizel got up and patted him on the shoulder. Thank goodness, because if Master hadn't forgotten in his concern over Frankenstein, he would have insisted that Frankenstein do something to punish him for breaking one of his things, when to Master windows were especially important things, and how was he supposed to _punish_ Master?

Especially when the first time they met, it was because he'd invaded some noble's home and stolen one of his shirts when he was on the run from the law. It would have been rational for an ordinary person to be worried about the dangerous criminal. On the other hand, there were stories of what happened to humans who took shelter in the manor of a red-eyed 'vampire.' Disheveled clothing was usually involved, now wasn't it?

He started laughing at the memories. At how outside normal expectations they were. At how curiously endearing Cadis Etrama di Raizel was, even as clan leaders bowed before him while he stared impassively down at them.

The Previous Lord had asked him why he'd stayed with a noble for ten years when he wasn't getting anything out of it, and Frankenstein hadn't even considered the question until then. It wasn't that he felt he needed Raizel's protection, even if he was glad the strange young-looking noble had sent the clan leaders away. He'd needed to stay somewhere while he investigated the clan leaders and learned how to handle Dark Spear, and it was a huge mansion and Raizel barely went into any of it, and it was an opportunity to observe nobles in their natural habitat, which in Raizel's case was standing in front of a window? _That_ couldn't be right…

Here he was, a vampire hunter, when nobles were the ones who started the plague, and he was more annoyed by Urokai trying to make Raizel drink his complete failure to make tea than some of the other clan leaders trying to poison Raizel's mind against him for more nefarious reasons.

The Noblesse would never change, he thought, shoulders shaking, raising a hand to cover his eyes.

He'd…

…die first.

He didn't hear Master standing up from his school desk. He didn't know he had until he felt Master's hand on his shoulder, patting it carefully, arm almost out straight in case someone being too close bothered Frankenstein.

It took him a moment before he could uncover his eyes and smile. "I'm fine, Master."

As a percentage of Frankenstein's life, he hadn't lived with Cadis Etrama di Raizel for very long. As a percentage of Master's… but thinking of that just made him realize how rare and precious his companionship must seem to Raizel. Proof that his duty as the Noblesse had been worth it? He didn't want to be a prize Raizel could only earn by throwing his life away.

Even if he couldn't find Raizel after his disappearance, the piece of his Master's soul bound to his own was still there. He'd spent most of the time blocking the link that let him sense Master even before Raizel disappeared. It was just common courtesy not to flood someone else's mind with his thoughts… and he didn't want Master to feel what Dark Spear did to him. He couldn't keep him from knowing when Dark Spear tormented him, the Noblesse could just see it looking at Frankenstein, but he couldn't let Dark Spear harm the innocent. Not when they were his responsibility.

At least the bond had still existed, and that meant that Master could not be dead, because a Noblesse's soul ceased to exist when they died. Master could have gotten his attention when he woke up in a strange city – any city would be a strange one to someone who had never seen that many people in their entire life – but Master hadn't had any idea what was going on and probably hadn't wanted to surprise Frankenstein when he might be in the middle of doing something.

Mistaking Mr. Park for an enhanced human had probably helped reassure Raizel that the place where the children were going in decently elegant uniforms had to be the right place.

"Master, do you know why I founded this school?" he asked. "The day I met you… I wanted you to live a normal life."

"I know," Raizel said, turning towards the window. Perhaps he needed the comfort of looking out a familiar window, because Frankenstein could read him well enough to know he was gathering his courage to say, "I have always appreciated everything you have done for me."

It made him smile with relief to hear that.

At first when he moved into Raizel's home he hadn't really cared what Raizel thought of a human sitting in the room with him taking notes and making tea and food and expecting him to have some of it. Later, after learning more about the Previous Lord's attempts to drag Raizel out of his manor, he'd begun to worry that his actions were just as much of an imposition and Raizel was just too… too passive, too used to letting others do what they willed, to tell him. Even if he was willing to say no to the Previous Lord.

He didn't expect gratitude for taking care of Raizel. It was what he wanted to do, but it still… he could see it there, could feel it, and he was happy. Not just to hear it, but that Raizel had made the considerable effort to find words to tell him. He was still unpracticed at speaking to others, and even if a noble's pride let him hide nervousness, Frankenstein knew that the thought of saying the wrong thing and hurting them worried his Master.

"I also wanted you to live a normal life," Raizel said, before Frankenstein could frame a reply and… that this was so important to him?

Frankenstein bowed. He would not bend his head or neck for any other (not unless it was in mockery), but his master deserved… so much more than he would ever ask for.

"I am precious to you, even though I am the Noblesse." The nobles' inquisitor, powerful and terrifying.

The way Frankenstein's power was terrifying to humans, and that fear made it so easy for the people he'd fought for to believe the Union's lies. Left them both alone among the people they lived for.

Solemn red eyes searched his, hoping to see that Frankenstein understood, even though Raizel could touch his mind. His master was not used to being nervous. "You consented to our contract and entrusted yourself to me. It has always been an honor."

Despite the greedy and the power-hungry using it as a way to enslave humans instead of giving the humans they cared for the power to protect themselves.

"Humans are precious existences," Master said, looking around the room at Shinwoo's desk. Yuna's, Suyi's and Ikhan's. Regis and Seira's desks – Seira had wanted Regis to experience age-appropriate activities like attending class while they were in the human world for the investigation, and Regis had picked out Ye Ran for the sake of the school's uniform. "This is the place you made for me." Where he would be surrounded by _children¸_ whose lives were doubly precious. Raizel had to turn away, to try to hide a slight blush.

Nobles – or the nobles when Frankenstein first met them, before the Previous Lord put his plan into motion – considered allowing their emotions to be brought to someone else's attention _highly_ intrusive and inelegant. It was a holdover from when they only had psychic abilities for communication, before humans came around with words and body language allowing people to express themselves without forcing their thoughts or emotions on someone else.

Even if Raizel was young (by the standards of Lukedonia a thousand years ago) and socially isolated before he came to the school (by any standards), he was caught between wanting Frankenstein to know that he was grateful and the lingering awareness that being grateful at people was intrusive and probably not wanted.

"There must be nobles who think it would have been better if we never evolved," Frankenstein said, mainly to change the subject and rescue Raizel from feelings of awkwardness and anxiety a noble had no idea how to handle. "Your kind aren't actually stupid. Zarga and Urokai both believed that those who were supposed to protect Lukedonia and the nobles," the Lord _and_ the Noblesse, "were favoring us at their expense, and they weren't entirely wrong. Obviously we aren't the source of all evil in the world, but we did present a host of temptations that the nobles weren't equipped to handle."

"Humans have not changed since you were hunter-gatherers," Raizel said, looking out the window at the soccer field. "You still care for others so much, and so easily."

Frankenstein chuckled. Well, he had no one to blame for Master's sheltered opinion of human nature but himself. The school was built to be an environment that would bring out the best in people.

Raizel looked at him. "Humans died because of nobles, and you still wished to help me as soon as you sensed me." He shook his head. "You are _wanted_ , but the danger to nobles is if we want enough to ignore the cost to our honor. To our own souls."

When it was a noble's soul that kept them alive. "When I first went there, Lukedonia was a land of ancients, and now they're all well-meaning teenagers." Adults… _technically_. Still open-minded and willing to learn, because they were aware of how little they knew. Any teacher knew that was the first step on the path to wisdom. He saw why the Previous Lord did it, Frankenstein had seen long ago that if nobles started _thinking_ they would be much better off. And much more dangerous, but that wasn't a bad thing for them to be, when someone needed to save humanity from the Union, when the Union had done its best to make damn sure humanity couldn't save itself. "Your lifespans used to be… eternal. What has happened to your mortality rate, to your life expectancies…"

Raizel sighed. "You are not saying that humans should not exist." That would be silly.

"No," Frankenstein said. No.

"But you do not want to exist at the expense of others." Raizel nodded. "If we do not respect your wills, then we will not respect our own." And it took a strong will and sense of self for someone to live for millions of years without going mad or losing all motivation and going into eternal sleep. "The idea that people's wills and selves do not matter: that is what can corrode the soul and force us to go into eternal sleep before we are lost. Nobles have been tempted to keep you for themselves instead of protecting you so you may live in accordance with your wills not because you are worthless, but because you are priceless."

When Frankenstein was born, Africans were considered intelligent, well-educated and upper-class because the majority of the Africans who lived in Europe were. Then they became valuable labor because they could survive disease and tropical conditions better than any other human population on Earth, between coming from those conditions and having a healthier gene pool.

The change from 'intelligent person' to 'subhuman thing' was blindingly fast… and Frankenstein wished he had been surprised by it, but he grew up in a country that practiced serfdom. Where most of the population was considered of subhuman intelligence and therefore only good as slave labor, 'part of the land' like the game animals in the forest, there for the nobility's benefit, because of their 'bad blood.'

People weren't taught that they were inferior because they were worthless. No, they were taught they were inferior _because_ they were worth something, and other people wanted to take it from them.

It was almost surprising that Cadis Etrama di Raizel was aware of the concept, but nobles weren't stupid, and looking into people's minds and seeing the _real_ reasons they might do terrible things was part of his duty.

"You came to Lukedonia, and demanded that nobles respect the wills of humans." Raizel hesitated, glancing at him, and seemed to think better of saying something. While Regis was quick to praise people, when Frankenstein first visited Lukedonia it was only appropriate to praise someone when they performed better than could be expected of them, and Raizel was most likely worried about the risk of implying he thought little of Frankenstein.

Honestly, poor Master. He was lucky that Frankenstein had stopped taking notes on him as an important case study not long after they met – it was rather in poor taste to do that to one's host. Gejutel and Ragar were fair game – but not Regis, Seira or Rael, when despite their calendar ages and Lukedonia's age of legal adulthood, none of them were anywhere near equivalent to a human eighteen-year-old yet.

"For now, I must be the Noblesse. Once there are more humans like you, perhaps the Previous Lord's wish will come true."

No more need for the Lord to throw away their identity or the Noblesse to throw away their lives.

No more statues in front of the Sanctuary. No more dying young, even though Raizel was older than all of Lukedonia's loyal clan leaders except Gejutel now.

Frankenstein had seen the tiredness in the Previous Lord's eyes, when he said that no matter how he tried to guide the nobles, it didn't _work_ , the Noblesse kept having to kill and die. It was not really a surprise that he was willing to go so far as to try to reboot their society, even entering Eternal Sleep himself. Because this _wasn't working_ , and _something_ had to happen, the nobles had to change, or else they would just keep decaying. And he was the Lord, therefore it was his duty to _make_ a way for nobles to have a better future.

But the real reason it was happening wasn't anything the Previous Lord could control. It was because humanity was tempting and _vulnerable_ , unable to defend itself. Lukedonia was created to try to contain the nobles, but they still had to patrol the human world, because there were always, _always_ criminals, and people who would hide the crimes of their comrades because reporting a brother-in-arms, just for taking a human's blood and giving them power when that was what the humans wanted anyway?

"I know that it is your will, but you are trying to mingle our souls together enough I will use yours instead of mine." Raizel sighed.

Frankenstein smiled in answer. Well, it wasn't like he hadn't known he would be caught. Master had sighed because he knew it was very like Frankenstein and it wasn't like he was going to stop. A pity it wasn't likely to work, for the same reason Raizel couldn't use Ragnarok.

Frankenstein looked out the window himself for a moment. "If we can destroy the Union's monopoly on human enhancement... Deal with the traitors and restore Lukedonia's reputation of strength so the werewolves know they can't conquer humans without being smacked down by nobles." So humanity could grow strong, with no one left working to keep them weak. "If healing and lifespan enhancement can become common knowledge, if…" All the _dreams_ he'd once had.

"Then the next Noblesse will not have to be the Noblesse, as the Previous Lord wished," Raizel said. "The humans need you, Frankenstein. And the nobles need the humans to prosper." So it was Raizel's duty to protect him, and Frankenstein needed to not die.

"My technology can be reinvented without me." Once the Union was no longer there to strangle innovation in the cradle. "Humans need the nobles to get their act together and get out of our way long enough for us to get our act together. Isn't that why Lukedonia exists?" Why Raizel existed. Not that Frankenstein cared what Lukedonia's traditions dictated. Raizel was a person, not a tool. He only tolerated Raizel spending his life as the Noblesse because it was his will; no one was forcing him into it.

Raizel sighed again, and turned to the window, because Frankenstein was a very difficult person and honestly he just gave up. A noble with mind control powers on the level of the Lord's _just gave up_ , faced with the obstinacy of a human who _gave him blood_.

The flood of warmth was enough to bury the cold dread of knowing his Master's days were numbered. This was why… no, this was only one of the reasons why he adored the strange creature he had found that night.

The bond between them opened, and it would have been perfect, to know that to Raizel, it was simple fact that Frankenstein was every bit as precious and unique and worth a thousand times the trouble he could possibly ever cause… except that it also meant he felt something of how close to death his master was, even though he did his best to hide it.

It meant he felt that Cadis Etrama di Raizel loved him, and the school Frankenstein had built for him, and the children they had taken in. They made him infinitely happy, far beyond the ability of someone from a species with no language instinct, someone who had spent thousands of years speaking to another living soul perhaps every other century, to find words to express his feelings.

Frankenstein had succeeded in giving his master joy.

Therefore, Raizel would die for them. Frankenstein's desire to avert that fate warmed his master's heart, but it was not a desire he could afford to share. The nobles, the humans, the home they had here: they were precious. They must be protected.

So Cadis Etrama di Raizel had to be the Noblesse.

The only noble to ever truly die.


	6. Problem Child

_It's the noble adoptees who view Frankenstein as a role model more than the human ones, especially early on, but the Trio are from the Union and scientists are scary. They also first meet Frankenstein in 'scary as hell' mode, while Seira and Regis meet him as Principal Lee._

 _Regis and Seira remember having parents (and Gejutel), so the household is not outside their experience. Given Rozaria and Karias, this isn't even the first time those two have found themselves adopted by strange people._

 _I love episode 360 for Frankenstein complaining to Rai about the Trio risking themselves to gain the power to protect others and Rai visibly realizing that Frankenstein has been hit with the Parent's Curse – "May you one day have children who are_ just like you."

 _Of course, Raizel isn't going to point out that it's the pot calling the kettle when he's a cast-iron skillet._

 _Rael is an unstable bundle of issues mostly caused by justified feelings of abandonment and partially by the fact that Ignes Kravei should never have been allowed anywhere near an emotionally vulnerable child. How Rael acts in scenes is highly dependent on what buttons get pushed, and given that Seira, Regis, Rajak and enhanced humans are all buttons? Even very early on, he evacuates the humans in an area in advance when he knows he's going to be fighting there.  
_

* * *

Rael understood why Rajak had to train, when Rael's Grandia was the reason his brother was incomplete. With the traitor clan leaders and the vile enhanced humans out there, the Kertia were Lukedonia's warning system and first line of defense against the traitor nobles and the Union. Rael understood that even before Seira and Regis lost their families.

Like Rajak, Rousare was incomplete because Gejutel's soul had not joined Regasus, but the previous Loyard clan leader _had_ a complete soul weapon. It still wasn't enough against the traitor nobles and traitor humans who helped them kill the Landegre and Loyard clans.

Those _disgusting_ enhanced humans… it was not possible for them to kill Rajak, it simply wasn't!

…But if a human could force Rajak, could even force _their father_ to acknowledge the power of this Frankenstein? Then, then what if this 'Union' really could…

It wasn't just the insult and finding out that Rajak knew Rael was the reason Kartas was incomplete and Rajak had to train so much. Rael had to take apart the enhanced humans to learn how strong the traitor humans were, and who had made the things. This 'Union' – he had to kill them all, before the Kertia Clan died like the Loyard and Landegre.

Two of the traitor clan leaders were dead. There were only four more of them out there, and Frankenstein had killed one of the humans who abandoned humanity before Rael arrived. The werewolf had fled from the Noblesse with her tail between her legs, and Rajak had praised him! Even if he had come to assist Seira, not the humans, and had no idea his brother would be there.

He hadn't managed to detect the signs that his brother was in the area, when Frankenstein had, but then neither of them had found signs of Rael's presence, so it wasn't _that_ embarrassing.

They had been invited to stay under the Noblesse's own roof, instead of trying to find decent lodgings in a human city. Rael had used mind control to get rooms in the best hotels on his training trip while he learned to how endure the insults of humans without losing his temper, otherwise there was always _noise_.

Here, however, it was quiet enough for them to sleep. He'd offered to stand watch so his brother could sleep – Rajak had arrived at the battle first, and been injured protecting Seira – but Rajak had looked disappointed at him. Even if Rael had run away before the explanation of the true nature of the Noblesse, it was unbecoming of a Kertia to assume treachery on the part of comrades who had fought beside them. Even if they were in the human world, and one of them was an enhanced human.

An enhanced human with their father's approval?

When Rael woke up, Rajak had already left their rooms. He flushed as he dressed. He hadn't been fighting as long as his brother, so he shouldn't have needed more time to recover. And he'd missed his brother leaving the room! Or had the Kertia clan leader used their clan's power of stealth to avoid waking him?

He found his brother sitting on one of the couches that were on either side of a low table. The Noblesse sat at the head of the table, as was proper, and Frankenstein sat across from the Kertia clan leader.

"Rael," Rajak said.

Rael snapped upright. "Yes, brother?"

"Come here. We are discussing training."

"Yes," Rael said, and hurried to sit where his brother indicated. Right next to him.

"Our father benefited greatly from training with you," Rajak said, looking at Frankenstein but clearly for Rael's benefit. "Seira is also far more capable than she was when she last assisted me with my training."

The Lord had placed Sir Rozaria in charge of Seira's training, and Sir Karias in charge of Regis' training, even though Regis had not yet inherited Regasus and should have been trained by Gejutel regardless.

Rael had wished he could train with his big brother, but when his father's soul weapon came to him, after his father entered eternal sleep with the Previous Lord? He… Rajak couldn't know.

But Rajak had known all along, and wasn't angry.

He'd been _afraid_ all that time, and… had he really thought so poorly of his brother? And of course his father wouldn't fail to warn Rajak that his power would be incomplete!

Frankenstein smiled. "As I told you, Ragar Kertia was also a great deal of help to me in my attempts to master my own soul weapon. Of course I'm willing to assist you with your training, but since the situation with the Union is stable, for now, and you and your brother are here to assist Miss Seira, there is some… private training I need to seize this opportunity to do."

"We would be honored to protect the Noblesse in your absence," Rajak said.

Rael found both of them looking at him. "…Yes?"

His brother turned back to the human with an approving nod.

"In my absence, my master's knights are responsible for his protection," Frankenstein corrected Rajak with a smile. "Miss Seira will assign the two of you your duties. Once I return, as I said the most efficient course of action seems to be to focus on Rael's training."

Rajak nodded. "I have my duties on Lukedonia. Rael will have to return there to pay his respects to the Lord eventually, but I will inform the Lord that he is training with my approval."

Rael gulped. He hadn't even thought about how leaving Lukedonia without permission would make him look like the traitors!

"If Frankenstein trains you," Rajak told Rael, "then when you return to Lukedonia we can train together."

Really?

"And once he's passed my lessons on to you, Rael can return to my home for more training. If that's acceptable to both of you?" Frankenstein asked, looking between them, before focusing on Rajak.

Of course Rael nodded, even though he was wondering why the human said this was _his_ home. Wasn't it the Noblesse's?

Rael dared a glance at _him_. He'd defeated two clan leaders who summoned the spirits in their soul weapons to send against him. His dignity, even saddened by how they'd abandoned their honor and turned against the nobles, his calm reserve… Cadis Etrama di Raizel, even his name was elegant!

…Not that Rael was obsessed with elegance, like little stuck-up Regis, but it was still admirable. In people who actually _had_ it, unlike Regis with his bratty, talkative mouth.

What the Noblesse said about Rael's father, how he had always unfailingly proven his honor in silence? Rael was nowhere near a century old when Ragar entered eternal sleep, but yes. That was… yes.

"We were speaking of how we would repay you for your generous assistance," Rajak said.

"Miss Seira assists me in serving my master, and Regis has become one of my master's knights – of course, since the Lord is the Symbol of Authority, Regis' oath to Erga Kinesis di Raskreia when he becomes a clan leader will take precedence," Frankenstein said. "This is more than enough to repay me for the time spent on their training and the cost of Ye Ran's tuition fees."

Rael did not like the smile Frankenstein wore as he said, "My school has a special security force – you've met M-21, Tao and Takeo."

"That trash?" Rael protested. "Brother, you can't…" Order Rael to fight beside them?

"Be silent!" Rajak ordered him. "Calling enhanced humans trash, in the presence of the Bonded of Cadis Etrama di Raizel?"

Rael instantly went pale and shrank back before daring a glance at the Noblesse as Rajak bowed to the human, apologizing for the insult and the noise.

Sitting at the end of the table, said exalted being sipped his tea, kindly ignoring Rael's insult and both of them being noisy.

Silently, Rael thanked him for his generosity.

"Those who choose to abandon humanity _are_ trash _,_ " Frankenstein said, and Rael blinked to _not_ see fangs in that smile. Why was this human so like a noble? No wonder even Miss Seira hadn't been able to tell that he was human. Perhaps it was his contract to the Noblesse. "M-21, Tao and Takeo did not choose anything. The Union stripped their identities from them, and forced them to serve it. They have chosen to fight the Union to protect humanity: they are _not_ traitors to their own kind like Zarga Siriana and the other traitor clan leaders, and I'll thank you to _not_ compare my master's knights to that trash."

"His knights?" Rael stared at him with wide eyes. "…Is that why Regis was fighting alongside sc-I mean, enhanced humans like that?"

"Regis and M-21 first fought together to defend innocent humans against Union agents."

Rael didn't _care_ about innocent humans. That was how the Landegre and Loyard died, and he hated that the same thing was so likely to happen to his brother. But he wasn't stupid enough to say that in his brother's presence, and the Noblesse would certainly not approve. "I see," Rael said instead, ducking his head to hide any flash of annoyance.

"I _would_ offer to allow Rael to enroll in the same class at Ye Ran High School as my Master and Miss Seira," Frankenstein said, "but I'm afraid that his stealth training has been deficient."

Rael started to bristle, but Rajak nodded. "I heard that he made a great deal of noise and attracted Union attention when he went into the human world to bring the Loyard clan leader the Lord's message. However, Rael told me last night that he left Lukedonia to go on a training trip in the human world, to improve his ability to avoid losing his temper when faced with insults or perceived insults. I believe he is determined to overcome that shortcoming and gain the ability to blend in with humans."

"Then he won't object to additional training," said Frankenstein. "I believe Rael also expressed a desire to become the next Kertia clan leader after Ragar entered eternal sleep?"

Rajak nodded.

"Would you object to Rael being trained to assist you with your duties as clan leader?"

Oh? What was this? The human he'd underestimated so severely was… Was this why his father had acknowledged this human?

"No," Rajak said. "I'm aware of my inexperience. With the loss of the Landegre, the Kertia have been forced to take over their duties. I believe my father said that you were the reason that he and Gejutel took on the task of improving our oversight of noble activities in the human world? You made him aware of how nobles were abandoning their honor and allowed him to be of service to the Lord by dealing with it. It is another reason he felt grateful to you."

"There must be a great deal of not just administrative tasks, but intelligence gathering and analysis, involved in your post, is there not?" Frankenstein smiled when Rajak nodded. "As I've said, I am the head of a high school – both the Chairman and Principal. This involves organizing over a hundred staff to manage thousands of students, as well as managing logistics and making contacts with other organizations, while gathering intelligence on prospective students."

Rajak gave him a truly respectful look. "Managing that many children…" Incredible.

He gave them a modest smile. "Much of it comes down to effective leadership: choosing the correct staff and delegating intelligently. Rael, I'm not certain of your ability to pass for a human child not much older than Regis, but I would be willing to accept you for training as an 'intern.' First, I will show you how the administration of Ye Ran functions and you will assist me with paperwork to train you in managing an organization and analyzing reports. Once I am satisfied with your ability to pass for a human, I will allow you to take on some secretarial duties during school hours."

"It is a pity that I must return to Lukedonia," Rajak said, eagerness showing through his reserve. "Rael, would you be willing to teach me this as well when you return home?"

Rael was about to complain about doing servant work for a human when Rajak spoke. His dignified brother's words shocked him. "…Really?"

"Power is not everything," his brother scolded him. "Those skills are invaluable for a clan leader. Frankenstein is the Bonded of the Noblesse: any clan leader would be blessed to have his student for their second-in-command."

The human smiled. "You flatter me," he said, but it was clear that he agreed that the flattery was an understatement, if anything.

"You really want me to learn this?"

"Rael, if you learn this, then I would gladly step down and give the leadership of the Kertia to you," Rajak told him, with complete seriousness.

"Brother, that's not…" Rael started to say, and _couldn't_ say the rest of it. I don't _want_ it anymore! I just want to help you, instead of being a burden! Instead of being the reason you're weak!

* * *

When Seira was watching over Regis as he went to lunch break along with Shinwoo and the others, Takeo came to ask Regis to join an RK meeting in Tao's security station. Since Frankenstein and Cadis Etrama di Raizel were not at the school, clearly she needed to attend to provide adult supervision.

"What is this about?" Regis asked when they arrived to find M-21 already there.

"I got a call from the house," Tao said, now that everyone was there. "Boss got Rael Kertia to agree to being an intern!" When Seira was not the only one whose calm was unruffled by this news, he explained, "That means minion. _Unpaid_ minion."

"Rael is going to live with us?" Regis looked worried. He was always very excitable.

"Yeah, he's…" M-21 scowled.

"Boss'll handle _him_ ," Tao said gleefully.

"It's not just his inelegance! When Seira told him he wasn't her type and walked away when he kept being _talkative_? He lost his composure and _started breaking things_!"

Seira realized that if Rael did that in the home of her housekeeping teacher, it would end far worse for Rael than a mere ten years' confinement. It would be none of her business, but Frankenstein was her teacher and she could not allow someone to cause him difficulties.

M-21 seemed to agree with Tao that this was a problem that solved itself. "The rest of us need to be ready to duck and cover." Yes, the weaker members of the household would need to avoid the houseowner while he was unbalanced.

"Rael is also not _his_ type." Seira had learned to imitate Cadis Etrama di Raizel's little sigh. It was a very good way to tastefully convey one's embarrassment that someone was being noisy and hopefully make them realize that they were being inappropriate and stop without having to be noisy or talkative oneself, the way Regis was when Rael's inelegance embarrassed Regis just looking at it.

She remembered what happened the _last_ time Frankenstein was displeased by Rael's conduct at his school. Seira had been forced to intervene and break up the fight before there was any more property damage. Even if Frankenstein had behaved with appropriate courtesies and she would have been willing to testify to this before the Noblesse if she was not called back to Lukedonia, it was simply poor conduct. Yes, Rael had sent the humans away to safety beforehand, but honestly. The humans _needed_ those buildings and her teacher was a human (even if she was uncertain at that point), so he had no excuse for not knowing that.

"Suyi said that if I had any more 'hot guys' who were not my type, she would be willing to take them off my hands. I will make inquiries when we return to class."

Regis gave her one of the expressions of confusion that were understandable from someone who had not yet reached his majority. "But Suyi is _elegant_." What would she want with _Rael?_

Seira nodded, taking out her phone to begin texting. "She is Rael's type, and she is used to dealing with those of the same type as Rael at her work." Male idols were often prima donnas. "She informed me that she might be willing to ignore how difficult Rael is if he is sufficiently 'hot.' I will obtain pictures and give her a detailed description of the nature of his difficulty."

Yuna and Suyi commenting some time ago that Seria was 'surrounded by hot guys' had confused her. She had looked around the room to see: a child she was responsible for; three even smaller children (closer to two hundred than a hundred years younger than her); her household management instructor (she would need these skills to restore her clan); and a strange and high-maintenance being (she was not aware of the Noblesse's identity back then, but despite his exemplary dignity he was still not her type).

Later, after Seira told them that she had previously rejected the proposal of yet another immature person, they had explained their strange reactions by introducing her to the 'reverse harem' genre, and Seira had resolved to trade Yuna the Angsty Werewolf for Yuna's Unlucky Childhood Friend.

"What about the age difference?" Tao asked.

Seira nodded. Yes, that might present a problem disposing of her own Unlucky Childhood Friend. "He may be too immature for Suyi." Suyi was a career woman, while Rael was Rael. Hopefully, she would find him an acceptable 'trophy blond.'

* * *

When they got home, Raizel was the only one in the main room. Not long after, M-21 heard Rael yelp, "They thought I wanted to do _what_ to Miss Seira!"

Regis looked up, but Raizel and Seira ignored the sounds coming from the upper balcony. Tao looked thoughtfully at the door to outside, but Takeo put a hand on his arm and shook his head. Tao frowned – he was modified for information gathering – but decided that not escalating the situation with a noble prone to property damage was the better part of valor.

Frankenstein came down five minutes later. "Master, it seems that Rajak will be taking his younger brother back to Lukedonia. He will send Rael to join us when he's recovered."

Raizel gave a dignified nod and sipped his tea.

"What did he do?" Regis asked, looking a little worried even if he and Rael were officially not friends, complete with stabbing.

"I intended to explain to him that his sexual harassment of Miss Seira was unacceptable, and it seems that no one ever explained to him, or to Rajak Kertia, what sex was." Frankenstein looked around the room with a raised eyebrow.

M-21's sex education from the Union boiled down to the fact his genes were proprietary and he was not allowed to have any, or leave any other evidence of his existence, but he didn't want to know. He'd read the stuff in the staff handbook about students and co-workers, so he should be fine, right? He bet he wasn't the only one avoiding Frankenstein's gaze.

"I believe the Previous Lord mentioned it," Miss Seira said, and M-21 winced. There went his hopes that the subject would be dropped.

"The Previous Lord was often… talkative on the subject," Raizel said, with a pointed sigh.

"…Ah," Seira said, and M-21 prayed that was the end of that.

"If you'll excuse me, Master," Frankenstein said after a moment, bowing.

Raizel nodded and Frankenstein left, thank goodness.

Now as long as he didn't come back with diagrams…

* * *

When Frankenstein returned home from his 'training trip,' he found Raizel standing on the balcony and joined him there.

"So this is why you are more injured than when you left," Master said when he examined the items in the box Frankenstein opened and presented to him. He looked as though he was regretting missing school the day before Frankenstein left so Frankenstein could take the readings he wanted, if the outcome wasn't Frankenstein feeling better but the human coming home injured and in pain.

Of course he could see that the earring (an imitation of the Lord's design) and the links of the four chain bracelets were made with Dark Spear's power.

"I will recover, unlike you," Frankenstein said, still holding out the padded jewelry box, because he could not allow the sadness in Master's red eyes to sway him. This would help Master, therefore he would do it.

From his expression, Master had to admit that he had no right to object, when he had allowed himself to suffer wounds that would _not_ recover with mere rest in order to save others. Including Frankenstein. Not that this was repayment. For this to be a transaction would demean it. They were bound by contract, for as long as they both lived.

A too-pale hand picked up the earring. The change in the atmospheric pressure when he placed it in his ear and it activated was dramatic enough to create a gust of wind, and Frankenstein winced at the reminder of just how badly his master had been bleeding.

Raizel stood there with his red eyes closed in meditation, and when they opened and met Frankenstein's, he could see that his master's attention was no longer divided. Good: Frankenstein had been right that having his power more concentrated within his body would improve Raizel's control enough he could finally make more headway on repairing his body, instead of just trying to stay on top of how damage to one organ, or blood where it shouldn't be, would damage others.

Normally a noble's control over their body was too great for cancer to be a concern, but if their healing and cell generation powers were not under sufficient control, there were all sorts of nasty possibilities for a body without most of the human body's mechanisms.

Cadis Etrama di Raizel was a dead man walking. They both knew it, but while his master could accept it, could even be happy that he got to spend the brief time he had left in the wonderful place Frankenstein had made for him, Frankenstein could not.

It was impossible for human to live a thousand years, and yet it _could_ happen. He could not, _would_ not, give up. He did not tolerate the destruction of his possessions, and his master was not a mere possession.

"What is this?" Raizel asked, interrupting Frankenstein's thoughts by picking up one of the bracelets. His curiosity was genuine, but of course his master had sensed his grief.

"That is a charm bracelet. They are in style again," or they would be within five minutes of a noble wearing one – his master could make anything look good, although he had very specific tastes. "The charms can represent people, or events, or anything you would like."

But these dark silver charms had specific meanings, he thought as he watched Master slowly go through them, one by one.

A wolf's head. A laptop. Takeo was a little difficult, when his signature was a weapon and Takeo was not. Master let the hairbow pass without comment. Crossed knives for the two children left behind by Ragar, who despite his power was as simple, direct and stupidly decent as the Landegre.

When he came to Lukedonia, he'd wanted to punch those two clan leaders in the face the way M-21 and the others wanted to give him a taste of his own medicine after their training. When he left… he couldn't trust anyone on Lukedonia, not with his master vanished, but those two… yes, he had wanted to see them again, and not only because that would mean he'd found Raizel.

A small silver unicorn. A frying pan with a hole in the center – it wasn't that he held a grudge (better his cookware than his student's skull), it was that he liked nobles better when they were willing to admit they were as fallible as any human. It was good that Seira appreciated the importance of proper testing, even if he was having a hard time luring her into the sciences given her understandable dislike of the Union and its human enhancement.

An apple. Frankenstein had taken care not to have any symbols or motifs show up in his work or personal items after the Union started tracking him, and he certainly couldn't use Dark Spear to symbolize _himself_ when they were their own people. It had to seem a somewhat random choice to his master, but he would know it by process of elimination.

Master carefully put on the bracelet and lifted up the other one that had charms on it. A teacup, a door and a window; Master paused, and Frankenstein saw he'd reached the instant ramyeon packet.

He could feel the warmth of Master's happiness at the memories, but the Noblesse still sighed, because he knew what Frankenstein was trying to do, and he knew that Frankenstein knew he knew.

The Previous Lord had also tried to get Cadis Etrama di Raizel to see that there was more to life than psychic interrogation, forced eternal sleep and a lonely mansion. Tried to give him a birthday, an identity other than the Noblesse. Reasons to live.

The earring was a seal, but the bracelets were focuses. The Noblesse threw up a blood field first thing in combat because it multiplied the effectiveness of his techniques against those with blood, and meant he did not have to use as much power to fuel his techniques. Unfortunately, blood fields could be broken and the other traitor clan leaders would have practiced the technique, just like Zarga and Urokai. It would be easier to block attempts to destroy the bracelets. As for blocking…

The charms were energy deflectors, because Master's inability to train without dropping dead meant his ability to dodge was unreliable and he usually blocked attacks, even though that cost power. Blocking someone's strongest, most desperate attacks was intimidating, and projecting invincibility and implacability was a job requirement for the Noblesse. It was hard to scare the hell out of clan leaders.

Frankenstein would know. He'd tried. The Lords doing it simply by existing was a puzzle until he began unraveling the secrets of the Sanctuaries trying to locate Master.

The charms might be made out of soul weapon, but they'd still burn out their energy nullifying attacks from a noble's soul weapon. Technically he could have made more, but any more than that during a first trial? The risk was unacceptable. He'd survived experimenting on himself by taking care to keep to the right side of the thin line between desperate and stupid.

Raizel looked again at the first charm bracelet, carefully lifting up the apple on a fingertip. "You have…"

He'd known that Master was the Noblesse. He would be able to read what Frankenstein had done to make each of them.

His ability to control Dark Spear and the pain and blood that came with summoning it were enough to manage the earring. Gathering power from it to make the bracelets was pushing it, but easier than he'd expected, when the bracelets were meant to help kill enemies and the Union's victims _loathed_ it.

 _Protective_ charms?

"I will recover," he reminded his Master. _His_ soul wasn't mortally wounded. He could afford the equivalent of blood donation.

"I liked the life you were living when I woke up in this time," Master said, sadness in deep red eyes. "I wished for you to keep living like that. In this place, you smile all the time. You had a home where your things were safe, instead of your labs being destroyed." Usually by him, to keep them from falling into Union hands, but Raizel knew how much destruction and disorder in his environment upset him. Back then, it was just one more straw for the pile of rage against the Union and the nobles, but it mattered to Raizel. "You weren't getting into fights." Master _worried_ for him, when Frankenstein was always fighting and of course Frankenstein fought the strong, not the weak. "You were surrounded by students, and no one was scared of your power." The way they were scared of his Master's.

When Raizel woke up, Frankenstein wasn't conducting desperate, reckless experiments like letting Dark Spear tear off pieces of his soul so he could use them to craft soul weapon-type items that _weren't_ running on the desire to hurt others as they had been hurt.

Souls grew. The harder people lived, the more they were themselves. Whatever sent Raizel into a coma had burnt up enough of him that it took eight hundred and twenty years for the Sanctuary system just to stabilize him. Master had known when he woke up that he wasn't going to recover (not without help…), and his priority was doing the most he could with what he had left.

Frankenstein had a terrible suspicion of just how badly they had hurt Master. For one of the only people potentially capable of fighting Master to vanish at the same time? The obvious hypothesis was that the traitors had somehow forced Master to have to fight his only _friend_ , and how on earth had they managed it? Raizel was too gentle to attack anyone without reason, and Muzaka had no reason to attack him. Had the traitor clan leaders somehow managed to mind control the Werewolf Lord? But if so, why was Raizel alive? He would not be able to bring himself to harm an innocent in self-defense, so a controlled Muzaka would have slaughtered him the first time Raizel was unable to block in time, distracted by trying to free Muzaka's mind. The bar against harming the innocent was why he still couldn't bring himself to manage a single kill in Counterstrike despite Frankenstein's attempts to explain to him the concept of video _gaming_.

An ordinary human soul wasn't powerful enough to become a soul weapon, Frankenstein had determined. He'd thought that once human lives became longer that would change, and if noble souls could accrete over the generations, then human souls joined together for a common cause might be able to hit the threshold of power necessary for a soul weapon. How like the Union to turn 'for the sake of a common goal' into 'having massive numbers of people all die of the same cause.'

Frankenstein had intended to become a soul weapon whenever something went wrong and he finally died.

Then he discovered the true nature of the Union, he'd found Dark Spear and, well, he couldn't just leave them there.

The way he couldn't leave another living weapon just standing there, lonely and full of the kind of quiet despair that came from accepting there was no such thing as hope. Only duty.

"The Union was gearing up to attack Lukedonia and seize control over the world openly. My peaceful days would have come to an end before long," Frankenstein told him, even though it was no consolation.

"But it would have come later. You would have had longer like this." Just like Frankenstein wanted Raizel to have longer to live. To _truly_ live, not stare out the window at the world he could not join because he was created with a duty. The other charm bracelet was closed around Raizel's delicate wrist (humans would have to fumble around, trying to do that one-handed without practice). "The you who cares for children… your soul was not meant to kill." A delicate finger touched a tiny pair of glasses.

Frankenstein chuckled. Master, really? "Neither is yours."

Distant pain for a moment. "I must." 'I'll do it – you don't have to' – Master wanted to say that so much, and it tore him apart that he couldn't, the way Frankenstein couldn't tell Master that it really was alright for him to rest until Frankenstein could find a way to help him, they weren't going to need him.

"We will," Frankenstein promised him, because even if the odds were still against him there was such a thing as hope. As _making_ a way. "Once they are safe, my power can be sealed away again, and I can start examining which universities are worthy of your consideration."

He _would_ just build one, but there were only so many hours in the day, even for him.

Especially with a war to wage and a patient to save.


	7. Social Services

_I really wish there was more fic with the KSA's battle couple. Their WTF is very entertaining._

 _The KSA helps show how how the Union has_ enforced _humanity's helplessness, and the anger and desperation this has to engender in the people who know it's really only a matter of time until the Union takes over their countries - especially when I'm not sure how clear the rest of the world is on the fact that Lukedonia is the reason the Union didn't take over centuries ago. The KSA didn't really seem to get how big a threat Lukedonia was to the Union, talking with Frankenstein, so they probably really did have no idea why they weren't conquered yet and were stuck waiting for the axe to fall. Sangeen and Yonsu are very desperate measures, given what the Union would do if they found out, but if you're doomed anyway..._

 _It's interesting to think about how the relationship between humans and nobles during human pre-history would have affected both species. They were a major factor in our environment, so how would we have evolved to take advantage of that? Note that in the Noblesse 'verse, nobles were probably around before humans started using words, so it's not actually 'primitive humans were stupid and mistook nobles for gods,' it's 'when humans were coming up with words to call the various things in their environment, they called those tall brown and green things trees, that blue thing up there the sky & that red-eyed thing over there a god.'_

 _There's this hilarious FMA fic by Meredith T. Tasaki where Ed has this line: "_ Which is why I have to kill him! _I can't let a bunch of crazies like the_ State _get their hands on my research! What if they understand it! We'll all_ die!"

 _This takes place after the meeting between the KSA and Seira (with Regis as her attendant) re. Lukedonia assisting them against the Union. In the webtoon, that meeting was crashed by Ignes Kravei, after Crombel set her off. He's dead, so Ignes, Roctis and the Ninth Elder are still alive and Muzaka's still sealed. For now.  
_

* * *

M-21knew that if he wasn't enhanced, he'd be complaining about having to get up early to meet the KSA people before work. Still, they need the KSA to know the tracking system to catch people roof-hopping Tao'd set up around the city and how he'd be sending them certain information so they could evacuate civilians. It wasn't like Tao'd have the time to coordinate that himself when the next attack came, not when he had RK's tactics to manage. And it would be good for the KSA to _do their jobs_ instead of endangering the students.

He didn't want to meet up with them (saving Sangeen from Cerberus was different), but M-21 couldn't skip out on the meeting and let Tao go alone, or only with Takeo. The numbers would be even then, even if the KSA's enhanced humans weren't anything on the upgrades Frankenstein'd given the three of them.

That just meant Tao's body would be really valuable to the Union. Maybe enough for them to look the other way to South Korea making enhanced humans without telling them.

"You look like you have a question," Tao said cheerfully to the KSA representatives.

"I know that we don't have a right to ask questions after everything you've done for us," Yonsu said, looking away and scowling. Obviously she still wanted to pry.

"Go ahead and ask," M-21 said even though he didn't like them, remembering what Frankenstein told him about asking questions. That he couldn't tell him everything, and there was a lot Frankenstein knew that M-21 wouldn't have trusted himself with, things that would put people in danger if the Union knew, but he'd still give him answers if he asked.

The married couple looked at each other. Sangeen was the one to start talking, carefully and a little slowly, watching them in case he needed to stop. "When we thanked Lukedonia's representatives," the 'children' at their school, "and wondered why they were coming to talk to us separate from the Chairman, they said that the actions of the Chairman – and someone else? – were separate from those of Lukedonia's government, although he wasn't unrelated to it."

"That sounds like politics," Yonsu chimed in. "You don't have to tell us if it'll cause trouble, but the last time the KSA got caught up in politics?"

The power struggle between Crombel and the Twelfth Elder had almost wiped out the entire organization. M-21'd heard that everyone in their headquarters was killed except their Chief, so all they had left were the people who hadn't been there.

M-21 wondered if the trainees they sent to test their candidates had survived, but when they'd attacked the high school kids he didn't care enough to ask.

Takeo was looking at Tao, who had his hand behind his head, laughing a little nervously, clearly trying to make it casual and apologize for not being able to tell them anything.

"It's because he's human," M-21 said. Of course Frankenstein would want them to know that.

Everyone turned to look at him. Sangeen and Yonsu had their mouths open in shock.

"I know!" Tao said.

"We were shocked as well," Takeo agreed.

"He's really… That's what an enhanced human is capable of?" Yonsu asked, but she didn't look happy or hopeful. Just sad, a little angry at herself. Probably because she and her husband hadn't been strong enough to protect their comrades at the KSA, despite volunteering for unauthorized experiments at incredible risk of the Union doing its considerable worst.

"So he survived leaving the Union by allying with Lukedonia, but he's not under their authority because he's not a noble?" Sangeen asked, pulling himself together.

"No no no!" Tao said hurriedly, waving his hands. "The Boss was never part of the Union!"

"I'm not certain how much more we can tell you," Takeo said, "but that is something you need to know."

"It's probably a natural assumption to make, when he took us in and we were Union experiments, but it's a good thing you didn't make that assumption anywhere he might hear it!" Tao warned them. "The Boss _despises_ the Union."

Both of the KSA agents shuddered: they'd seen Frankenstein angry.

"You don't have to tell us anything more," Sangeen said. "When we asked him who he was he wouldn't tell us anything except that he was the Chairman of Ye Ran High School.'" Sangeen frowned at himself. "Oh, right, you were there."

The three of them looked at each other. "It was weird," M-21 was the one to say, since he'd been with them longest. "He's always answered our questions. I didn't know much, but that was because I didn't want to risk it."

Tao perked up. "They aren't part of the family." So Boss would tell _them_ things he wouldn't tell allies, because they were special?

Takeo nodded. "The Union already went to the KSA for information once. We know he took precautions in case they captured these agents."

"Right!" Tao slammed his fist into his palm. "We should tell them something." He turned to Sangeen. "You know how we called ourselves RK?"

"Yeah, I… wondered about the masks." Wondered what they were thinking, probably.

M-21 wondered if these two thought they were _all_ as crazy as Tao and Frankenstein. Not that he cared.

"We're the Raizel Knights!" Tao declared, striking a pose.

"No, you can't recruit them," Takeo said firmly, trying to head Tao off. "They're sworn to defend South Korea, and Raizel occupies a position in Lukedonia's government."

"Government?" M-21 blinked. "There's the Lord, but… I guess they are kind of in charge."

"They're nothing like the Union, or the governments of the countries DA-5 operated in, but monarchy is a form of government. I hope it's not a problem that the clan leaders are here helping us out so much." Tao looked thoughtful. " _Does_ Boss have to take orders from the Lord? I mean, he wouldn't because he's _Boss_ , but isn't the Lord the ruler of all nobles? _He_ is a noble. Maybe that's why Regis and Seira said that we weren't unconnected with Lukedonia, since _he's_ a Lukedonian official."

"Since he swore an oath of obedience, perhaps," Takeo agreed, looking a little surprised.

M-21 frowned. "Oath of obedience? You really think _he'd_ be okay with something like that?" He was still baffled by the idea of Raizel being _government_. Weren't they like the Union Elders, controlling things? He couldn't imagine Raizel in charge of anything, ever. He had his powers and could give orders, but mostly he sat there, drinking tea or looking out the window, minding his own business, until one of his classmates decided that they were going to go play Counterstrike or something. M-21 really wasn't surprised to find out that the Contract with Frankenstein and Frankenstein calling him Master was Frankenstein's idea, so Raizel went along with it.

" _He_ usually lets humans do what they want, so if that was what the Boss wanted to do?" Tao shrugged. "I hope not, though. _He_ wouldn't like it much."

"' _He_?'" Yonsu asked, attempting to mimic the particular emphasis.

" _He,"_ Tao corrected her helpfully. "You know, the kids call him Rai. Drag him away from fights if you can, okay? He's really nice, and it bothers him to have to kill people. And when he's sad, everybody's sad, and when Boss is sad?" Tao shuddered dramatically and wailed, "He _spring cleans!"_

M-21 and Takeo looked at each other. They wanted to say that Tao was being overly dramatic as usual, but… Yes.

Takeo nodded his head slowly at the KSA agents, forced to acknowledge the truth of Tao's words. "The janitor at Ye Ran must be a saint."

M-21 nodded. "He puts up with it because if the Chairman wasn't a good person the kids wouldn't be so happy there."

" _He's_ happy there, and _he_ wouldn't be happy unless the kids were happy," Tao chimed in.

"Rai… Cadis Etrama di Raizel? The Ye Ran student who finished off the Twelfth Elder but didn't come to our meeting with the Lukedonian officials? He wasn't exactly attentive," Sangeen said.

"And he always had an excuse for getting out of PE," Yonsu added. "Although that makes sense." All of them knew about having to hide enhanced strength. The other nobles also got out of PE while the KSA agents were watching the students.

The agents couldn't possibly have missed all of them looking sad. "He stares out the window all the time," Takeo said – they'd seen him in the classroom through that window, when they were patrolling the campus. "He's… used to that. His life before he met the Chairman was… lonely."

"That's why he wants us to be happy." M-21 said, looking to the side, wondering why he was being so talkative. He didn't like these people, why did he care what they knew about anything? "He knows what it's like to not get to have a normal life."

"He's saved all our lives," Tao said. "That's why I make RK, to protect him."

Yonsu gave him a skeptical look. "Protect him? He killed two Union elders. What does he need protection for?"

M-21 didn't even realize he'd taken a step towards Yonsu before Tao and Takeo grabbed his arms. He swallowed and grabbed hold of his temper. "Right," he forced out through gritted teeth. "He said that before me, no one except F-the Chairman had ever wanted to protect him." Raizel'd said Frankenstein's name once on the battlefield, but he hoped the KSA agents were too overwhelmed to really catch it. He didn't want them assuming things based on the Union's old lies.

When he stepped back so they could let go of him (not that Tao did), Tao and Takeo looked at each other, frowning.

"Sangeen really didn't…" Takeo looked at Tao, puzzled. "I didn't notice how… important," Takeo said, after failing to find a better word, "he was until later, but they saw what he did to the Twelfth Elder, and heard why."

Yeah, M-21 hadn't realized that Raizel was anything special, he'd faded into the background behind Frankenstein somehow, but then M-21 had seen him use his power and whatever was keeping him from realizing that Raizel was important couldn't fool him anymore.

"It's one thing to not notice us, or Boss, but three nobles sitting right there with the kids he was supposed to observe, and he didn't think they were important?" Tao nodded. "They must have been doing that thing that makes you not notice them. Probably only during class. It's interesting how the school's so used to them now. You get a lot more attention, M-21," Tao said, squeezing his arm before he let him go. "From the Union's data, a modified human who looked like them should make everyone freak out, thinking they're wrong and probably sick because they look too perfect. Uncanny valley. I guess it's because humans and nobles used to live together, you know? It's funny to see people just… pay attention when they see _him_ or Miss Seira, even little Regis, but once they get over the shock it's just 'oh, nobles,'" Tao waved a hand nonchalantly, "and they're like… just nice to have around. You'd think that Miss Seira'd have a fan club like M-21, but it's like she's a really gorgeous sunset or something that's just nice to look at and M-21's actually hot."

"I have a fan club?" M-21 asked, shocked, even knowing that this was _Tao_ and that reaction was exactly what he was going for.

"You're lucky you were considered a failed experiment," Takeo told him, looking away, voice grim. "I'm lucky that… she decided to play the game she did. Dr. Aris isn't the only Union official with a known fondness for pretty things, but Crombel labeling you a reject meant they left you alone." Trash wasn't a status symbol. "Tao is correct. Humans don't seem to see nobles as sexually available. It would be… noticeable if they did."

"We're working at a high school," Tao said, with a cheerful grin, the kind successful data-gathering gave him. "Hormones and young love all over the place. It's a lot of fun to watch," after Shinwoo asking them for advice made them all realize they just didn't have a clue.

Or maybe Takeo did, and that was why he'd fled the scene? No. DA-5 was very closely monitored, and Dr. Aris probably wouldn't have let anyone else play with her toys. M-21 knew that some experiments still talked to each other, even if he and M-24 were out of the loop because they were failures and no one wanted to be tainted and _terminated_ by association. Takeo was friendly and Tao was designed for intel gathering and monitoring, so they would have been more hooked in than most.

"The nobles were tampering with our minds so we didn't notice them?" Yonsu demanded.

How was that her business what they did to hide them from the Union and keep everyone safe, M-21 wanted to growl at her, but right. Her country. Tampering with their minds, though? "That can't be right," M-21 said, frowning. "It must work some other way."

Tao tapped his fingers together thoughtfully. "Regis thought it was okay to try to Jedi Mind Trick the boss into letting him stay at your place, right? _He_ was okay with the memory wipe on Ikhan and the others, but that was to save the kids from the Union, and it was the boss that did it. _He_ just didn't stop Boss from doing what he wanted. There are still more traitor nobles at the Union, so we should probably ask Boss how all that works. If he's thinking about intel leaks from the KSA, then it wouldn't be a bad thing for them to come too, right?"

For some reason they looked at M-21, who shrugged. If Frankenstein wasn't worried about these agents getting dissected by the Union even after they'd had _plans_ for his students, he wouldn't have had those vials. It was probably because he approved of humans sticking up for themselves, and people defying the Union to create enhanced humans. If Frankenstein wanted them to get lost, they'd get lost. If they ended up running away from the school with their tails between their legs, _good_. It'd keep them away from the students.

* * *

"They are psychically null, like werewolves," Frankenstein said, sitting at his desk in the Chairman's office, giving the five of them a look over his glasses before zeroing in on a specific target. "Which is part of why I did not want them in possession of any information," _Tao_. Of course it wasn't hard for him to know who was responsible for this. "I took a look at their enhancements. While the KSA's program doesn't have the Union's particular institutional incompetence," inventive underlings without patrons were massacred, like the Union's South Korean lab, by someone who wanted exclusive knowledge of that research, "or propaganda, the doctor who worked on them had to make much of it up as he went along, and was of course completely ignorant of the historical context of enhancements and the reality of humanity's position on this planet. He entirely shut down their natural psychic abilities thinking that would help keep the Union from detecting them."

"Humans are naturally psychic?" Tao asked, acting heedless of the fact the KSA agents were right here and he was asking for information when they'd hear it.

"Yes. Verbal communication and symbols are far more effective and generally useful, so obviously we evolved to prioritize language, but we still use psychic abilities not just as a method of clarifying meaning, but for data transfers. That's why nobles can learn languages and how to fit in so quickly: it's being uploaded to them. There's a certain developmental stage when it becomes very obvious if a child lacks psychic powers – it's a communication disability. They have to learn what other children simply download."

M-21 glanced over at the KSA agents to see them just stunned. Sangeen was a little better at hiding his emotions than Yonsu, he guessed, but M-21 was used to nobles, so he might as well have had his jaw dropped.

Someone just _knew_ all this, and talked about it so casually? Handed out the kind of knowledge the Union killed hundreds, thousands of people like M-21 to obtain?

"I've developed techniques for assisting students like that, of course," Frankenstein went on, thoughtfully.

There wasn't a transition from scientist to high school Chairman. That was another strange thing about Frankenstein, to M-21. That scientist mode and 'looking after people' weren't mutually exclusive to him. Wasn't science supposed to mean cruelty and detachment? Frankenstein could be cruel (training came to mind) and he could detach himself from a situation (in order to be sure he saw everything) but it was always for the sake of being kind. For being sure that he was taking the best care of all of them.

"Since the condition is better known these days and it was almost time to leave Ye Ran, I was considering having the next school be preschool through high school, and getting some of those techniques out there. Of course, I'd have to let the teachers think they'd figured out those tricks themselves; it's not safe for me to publi-" Frankenstein blinked at them, finally noticing that something was wrong.

"Leave Ye Ran?" Takeo asked, pale.

Leave the school, leave the students? Leave the first job M-21 was happy to do?

Frankenstein held up his glasses, tilted them in the light so they would see the bifocal lenses. "I'll teach you how to manage as immortals, but the most important thing about faking aging is, don't bother. It's incredibly time-consuming and all of your brains are still adapting to manage your changing bodies and abilities. You need your rest. It takes a certain number of years for a school to become an _institution,_ to develop the quantity and quality of tradition that will let it endure changing political winds, the temptation to prioritize prestige over truly doing good for the students and the world, assassinations… The varying hazards of the educational field. When the KSA asked me how I was able to mobilize the government to give their organization what they needed to recover so quickly, I told them that I was the Chairman of Ye Ran High School." He smiled at Sangeen and Yonsu. "Because it was as the Chairman of Ye Ran High School that I placed a call to our alumni association. It's always rewarding to watch children grow up and spread their wings."

Turning back to the school security's infamous 'Parachute Trio,' he told them, "Yet the fact that my students were able to take the KSA's problems – aside from the surgery – off my hands means I could now move on knowing that Ye Ran would be in good hands." He smirked, more proud than anything. "But, Master has friends and a life here. Don't worry. You won't have to leave Ye Ran anytime soon." He chuckled. "It isn't as though I haven't been called a peacock before. There's nothing wrong with letting people think I'm a little vain and spending far too much money to hide the signs of aging."

Takeo and Tao were relieved, but, "Immortal?" M-21 asked. He'd known that Frankenstein just had to be really old when he thought the two of them were 'noblesse,' and then he'd found out that Frankenstein was _human_ and Raziel had been asleep for _820 years_.

M-21 had always known that the Union just hadn't gotten around to terminating a failure like him _yet._ Frankenstein and his master had given him a chance to live a long _er_ life, but he'd known that the Union was going to try to kill them all.

Now _immortality_ was on the table?

"Physical immortality is not difficult," Frankenstein told him. "I primarily use a variant on the noble method since the werewolf method comes with the risk of mutating substantially away from the human baseline. I suppose it doesn't benefit the werewolves or traitor nobles in the Union for humans to develop or refine abilities that the other species already possess: they want to help themselves, not humanity. Dr. Aris had a pair of disgusting creations, made by turning humans into machines that wore out their lifespan." They sensed Dark Spear's aura flare around him, Frankenstein and his soul weapon united in their hatred of the Union.

Turning humans into weapons? That was what happened to Dark Spear.

"I should have made more of an effort to try to periodically stamp out those cockroaches." Frankenstein's eyes narrowed and M-21 considered taking a step back. There were only flickers of Dark Spear in the air around him, but they'd cut M-21 if he came in contact with one. Sure, these days his werewolf heart's power was strong enough that the wound would actually heal, and heal fast, but it still _hurt._ "They didn't have the sense to stay under the radar unless someone was keeping them in their place back in my day, but I shouldn't have assumed." That other people were doing their jobs and keeping the Union suppressed?

Sangeen and Yonsu, who had seen Frankenstein summon Dark Spear in a fight, were eyeing the door and window. M-21 saw Takeo move closer to the window, shaking his head to warn them not to even think about going through it.

Frankenstein didn't even seem to notice the sparks. "But six traitor clan leaders – seven, unless I manage to kill Ignes before Roctis Kravei – and an unknown quantity of clan leader-level werewolves would be a bit much even for me. Especially with Dark Spear sealed."

And Frankenstein wasn't like the Union. He wasn't going to turn other people into soldiers for him.

"It's okay!" Tao said, broadly smiling. "I mean, half the Elders are dead, before they even really had a chance to get started! They wouldn't have been so overconfident if you'd been kicking their asses for centuries, Boss."

"Yes, but _eight hundred and twenty years?"_ He rubbed his temples. It was strange how often someone enhanced like him got headaches…

Oh. Dark Spear, even if the sparks had gone away now that Tao'd made Frankenstein think about something else. It couldn't be happy that the Union was allowed to thrive.

"It isn't as though I didn't keep busy trying to find Master. Locating Sanctuaries and get into sealed spaces is a challenge even if you are the bonded of someone with authorized access. Dimensional physics was not my field. Thank goodness I already knew the security system was tied to the movements of the moon and other celestial objects."

"Oh!" Tao realized. " _That's_ why the data in your lab wasn't encrypted?"

His boss stared at him. "It was encrypted." Obviously. "Everything except you three, the treatment plans I put together for you to follow and a general explanation of what I was working on with you written for the layman, because you had a right to understand what was being done to you. And the finalized recipes, for Miss Seira," he added. "It was the general explanation that made those files so dangerous. The Union keeps its members unaware of major, foundational concepts, so they have made very little headway on the theoretical understanding necessary to actually design and optimize enhancements instead of trying random things to see what happens." The M series. "When Master and I left for Lukedonia, I left you enough information to continue to stabilize and enhance yourselves safely," he reminded Tao.

"The overview I left you wasn't just based on the understanding of the theory I had 900 years ago – even though I haven't been experimenting with human enhancement since then, I have had a great deal of time to consider the matter. In order to find and hopefully help my master, I was also working on developing an understanding of high-level noble abilities. The type of ability that allowed a single person to create Lukedonia and the Sanctuaries that concealed Master. I've also been hoping to free the souls imprisoned in Dark Spear, and have made some attempts to nail down that theory. _Obviously_ I didn't write out 'How to Attain Godhood In Four Easy Steps,' but if someone knows the theory, the rest is just engineering, and of _course_ a member of the Union is going to be looking for the most twisted ways they can apply any knowledge they can discover. Drs. Aris, Crombel and the Ninth Elder already saw humans as _raw materials!_ They've been mining for lead to make water pipes, with no idea that the 'worthless dross' they discard as soon as possible can be turned into nuclear weapons!"

Frankenstein shuddered. "Imagine if _Dr. Crombel had known what the hell he was doing! Billions_ would die!"

Tao drew in a breath, and M-21 turned to see him pale as ice. "Boss, can we… change the subject? Before… I think I should… Can I please not remember what I just figured out?"

He winced, standing up. "My apologies."

"I don't want to know." Tao wrapped his arms around himself. "I really, I really don't want to know. Because I _would._ To protect everyone. I _would._ And then the Union might find out it's possible." He shuddered. "That's why you gave _him_ your blood. Because you _think_ of things like that." He shook his head, staring at something only he could see. "I don't want to be the kind of person who would do that. I don't want to be like the Union. But they made me, and if any of you died I, I couldn't let them… If I had that kind of power, _he_ wouldn't have to fight but he'd have to kill me, wouldn't he, I don't want to do that to everyone…" His hands lifted up, clutching his head.

"It's not the temptations you're faced with that define you, Tao," Frankenstein said, coming around the desk to put a hand on Tao's shoulder to steady him, meeting Tao's pleading gaze when the former Union killer dared to look up at him with compassionate blue eyes. M-21 couldn't see even a trace of Dark Spear's violet hatred. "I would never hate you for wanting the power to protect others. The fact you're now able to recognize that there are some prices which should never be paid is progress."

The KSA – the _outsiders_ who threatened the kids shouldn't be here for this, M-21 knew. The way Frankenstein put his hand on Tao's shoulder reminded him of Raizel putting down his tea and standing up to walk over and pat Frankenstein's shoulder when Frankenstein saw the damage to the school from M-21's fight with Yonsu and Takeo's with Sangeen.

…Well, who else would Raizel have learned to do that from? Nobles didn't do touchy-feely stuff.

"No, I'm not wiping your memory," Frankenstein told Tao. "You're actually intelligent, and you've seen theory in action. Once people know it's possible to do something, others will figure out how to accomplish it, which is why the KSA's doctor was able to create these two without data from the Union. When you were in the Union, you weren't allowed to have scruples. Now that you're a free man, you're going to have to learn how to overcome temptation. How to choose the principles you will live by and stick to them."

"…can't you threaten to feed me to Dark Spear or something?" Tao asked, trying to joke.

Frankenstein gave him a look. "If I was alive to stop you, then you wouldn't feel the need to do it. I know this is a radical concept to someone who only remembers the Union, but power is not the be-all and end-all of existence, and just because someone can _think_ of a way to become more powerful doesn't mean they have to _do_ any such thing. …Of course, if I'm not alive to stop you from doing that, then I won't be alive to stop Dark Spear from eating you for it."

He patted Tao on the shoulder and returned to stand in front of his desk, leaning back on it a little in a deliberately casual pose, changing the subject. "Unless something goes apocalyptically wrong, the KSA won't need the ability to detect nobles, so the only issue is the lack of the… muscle, let's say, that resists mental domination." Which was the problem under discussion.

Looking thoughtful, he frowned briefly. "Werewolves are also psychically null, but their method of fending off mental assault seems to be a scorched earth policy and the ability to constantly generate new neurons. Originally, I thought werewolves were another clan of nobles, but the way they handle fundamentals is so different. Two powerful races on this planet with completely different origins. Then some early human generated enough of a psychic signal for nobles to notice our existence, werewolves had a _much_ easier time having a relationship with the ancestors of modern humans than another werewolf, and within living memory for nobles, here we all are," he mused looking around the room.

Two Union-designed enhanced humans; two independently enhanced humans – stealing data from the Union was too risky; one enhanced human (originally) based on samples he'd obtained from mutants with abilities originating from nobles; and one human with a werewolf heart.

M-21 stiffened. "There are humans who are descended from werewolves?" How many? How like him were they? Maybe he was one even without the heart? Maybe that was why he was compatible enough with it to be the only M-series to live. Was it a clue to his identity?

Frankenstein, _Dr._ Frankenstein, shook his head absently. M-21 kept getting hit with how strange it was to see someone in scientific mode and have it not be scary at all, although who knew when Frankenstein would decide to go over to scary mode, especially with the KSA here. M-21 wasn't the only one who wanted to scare them away from the students. Maybe another part of it was the school, seeing the teachers here? Mr. Park proved people could know things without seeing everyone else as things?

"Most if not all werewolves are descended from humans – their traits are strongly dominant due to how their abilities function. According to Muzaka there's no correlation between percentage of human ancestry and power level – what I've observed from you would explain it." Frankenstein tapped the table with a pen, having picked it up absently. "I wouldn't be surprised if all werewolves were chimeras. I'd like to have a theory on either noble or werewolf origin, but bar a stroke of luck we'll probably never know. Nobles didn't keep historical records until recently – they didn't have a language or writing system to record them with. All they have is what is within living memory, but the Previous Lord believed that weight of history was strangling Lukedonia's future and took much of it into eternal sleep with him." Frankenstein chuckled. "I'm sure future historians will wish they could wake him from eternal sleep so they can _murder_ him."

He paused, and M-21 saw his realization. Ah yes, there was a point to this conversation. "Modern humans still subconsciously recognize nobles because our ancestors spent a few hundred thousand years benefitting from the fact that nobles would protect us. It's instinct to rely on them. On some level, Agent Sangeen, you knew they were nobles, otherwise I'm sure you would have assumed they were modified humans and reacted accordingly. Most people are 'stunned' the first time they see a noble because their psychic abilities are grabbing for a larger share of brain function. This usually isn't something they've experienced before, and the natural assumption is that they are paying particular attention to this person for a reason. Shinwoo Han thought Master needed looking after," which made Frankenstein smile in approval. "Interesting, when it used to be the other way around."

Tao would have reminded them of Ikhan's adoption of fellow shortie Regis, but he was leaning against the wall close to Takeo. M-21 hoped it wouldn't take him too long to get back to normal.

"Is that why they said that it was… normal for them to help us now that the Union was attacking?"

"They haven't done anything about the Union before," Yonsu added.

"No, I won't be giving you intelligence on Lukedonia's political situation," Frankenstein told the KSA agents, putting his glasses back on. "And don't try good cop bad cop on me, you're a thousand years too early," he added, giving them a look over his glasses. M-21'd bet he'd put them on again instead of fiddling with them just so he could do that. "If the Union's intelligence is as inaccurate as it seems, then we all want to keep it that way. Any society will produce criminals, and needs mechanisms to keep them from abusing the weak. Because the nobles were ordered to live on Lukedonia, most human contact with nobles within our recorded history has been with criminals and traitors. Then there's the Union's recent propaganda – they've been gearing up to invade Lukedonia, and managed to inspire rather _suicidal_ overconfidence in their main battle fleet."

Suicidal enough for an ops team to run into the Noblesse's manor house and fire warning shots into the ceiling _in front of Frankenstein_ , expecting people they must have assumed were nobles to surrender to unenhanced humans.

Seeing the plaster fall onto the floor, M-21's life had flashed before his eyes.

If Tao hadn't managed to knock them all out while Frankenstein was still too stunned by seeing his property (technically Raizel's, but that just made those soldiers even more screwed) damaged to react, M-21 did _not_ want to think about what would have happened to them.

Frankenstein smiled, the kind of pleasant that didn't mean anything good for whoever he was smiling at. "I _would_ ask you whether you would try to help Regis and Seira if Union agents were about to kill them, but your actions are those of South Korea's government and you cannot afford to antagonize the Union."

There was a reason he'd said 'try to help' instead of actually help. If Frankenstein (or M-21, for that matter) was interested in being fair to the KSA, they weren't anywhere near as strong as M-21 was after Frankenstein had worked on him. The two of them being able to help out Regis, much less _Seira?_

Regis fought up close like M-21 instead of being ranged support like Tao and Takeo because even if he was the noble version of like ten or twelve (M-21 had his memories of being a child wiped, he didn't know how to figure out people's ages), he was still a pureblood noble and the strongest out of the people Tao managed to drag into his RK… thing.

M-21 ignored the little voice that said that Tao had managed to manipulate Regis into joining up and even wearing the stupid tiny mask because Regis was a kid, and Takeo was Tao's comrade from DA-5 and probably felt compelled to tag along to try to rein Tao in a little. What was M-21's excuse?

Sure, it was fun to do the hero thing, and to get to deny the Union something – no, _someone –_ they wanted, but there was a reason he'd said no to acting like they were some kind of hero team like the ones Shinwoo liked to watch.

Seira was a clan leader with a soul weapon. If some Union Elder was about to kill _her_ , the KSA agents weren't strong enough to matter in a fight or fast enough to get her out of there. If Sangeen was faster, it would have saved M-21 a lot of trouble when Tao decided that they had to rescue him from Cerberus.

"I _could_ ask you whether or not you would allow ordinary, human children to be put in danger on your watch, but you sent trainees to attempt to beat up one of my students, when accidents happen." Frankenstein's smile was edged. Oh _yes_ the Chairman of Ye Ran High School was going to bear a grudge for _that_ , even if he'd eventually forgiven M-21.

M-21 wasn't sure why Frankenstein and Raizel had forgiven him for putting the children at risk. At the time he hadn't thought about it, but once he _had_ thought of the children as people, like him and M-24, and how wrong it was to treat the children the way the Union had treated them? He wasn't sure if he could forgive himself. That was why it was so hard to forgive Yonsu, for ordering something like that without taking a minute to think about the fact that Shinwoo was a kid, an ordinary kid with a chance at a _life_ , and she was putting that in danger. _Taking that away_ from him, when M-24 _died_ to keep them alive, so they had that chance!

"Still, ordinary, _decent_ human beings will try to save a dying child, and nobles in general are no different. Lukedonia's age of majority is two hundred, unenhanced humans are more fragile than noble children, and the reason that human and noble psychic abilities are so compatible is probably because our ancestors evolved to better imitate a noble child in distress. Under ordinary circumstances, which the past seventy thousand years have not been, nobles reproduce once in a few million years. Children are rare and infinitely precious. Ask an ordinary, decent noble whether or not unenhanced humans should be protected even at noble expense, and they would have trouble understanding the question. Of course, when the question finally was asked, the fact that it was so hard for nobles to find words to give an answer would not have helped matters.

"Unfortunately, as with the parent-child bond in both species, instinctive trust holds great potential for abuse if the one in a position of power is not trustworthy. I enhanced my psychic abilities to an extreme degree trying to block what I thought was external mind control instead of instinct. In hindsight, it was not a coincidence that I found my way to the one person on Lukedonia able to tell two clan leaders on a mission from the Lord to get lost… I didn't want the Union to know that my master had returned, but he told that werewolf to tell them, in hope it would make them think twice. Then again, obviously the werewolves don't want the _rest_ of the Union to succeed, so she may not have warned the traitors to either the nobles or humanity. I don't want to hand information to the Union because I underestimated their selfishness." What to do…

"Regardless," he told the KSA agents, "the Union certainly has the knowledge of how to give someone psychic abilities they can use to become trusted. Yuri demonstrated that. The two of you need mental shielding in case anyone at the Union realizes it might be worth inserting a cuckoo in the KSA. Please do tell your own doctor that. I'm afraid I cannot assist you in that regard: the last time I let anyone at my work, the Union happened."

"When Regis fought the rest of DA-5, his mind control was really useful," Tao said, clearing his throat and making an effort to be back to normal, "but we didn't even notice anything when the Central Order Knight tried to ask us questions, right guys?"

M-21 and Takeo nodded.

Frankenstein frowned, then looked a little worried. "Perhaps I should go over your modifications with you in more detail. All of you consented to being stabilized, and the minimal modifications necessary to undo the damage caused by the Union's incompetence and keep you alive, even before you requested that I actually upgrade you. I should have remembered that the Union doesn't consider the life expectancies of its agents a priority, so your idea of the basic survival package is probably very different from mine. Mental shielding was one of the first things I worked on, since it was useless to try to fight vampires without it. As for Lukedonia's attitude towards mind control…"

The darkness began to rise up around him, that contempt appeared in a bitter smile, the hatred directed at himself more than anything. "I can't quite point fingers, now can I? They tamper with human memories because otherwise the Union will take anyone who encounters a noble, I tampered with noble memories to keep the clan leaders from rescuing the criminals and executing them before I was done with them… Seira would have gotten a hotel room, but I wasn't expecting to have nobles suddenly shown into my office. I believe Regis felt traces of Master's soul from me, and made an impulsive decision because he was drawn to it. He's only a hundred and ninety-nine: if I couldn't forgive children for doing childish things, I'd have no business being an educator."

* * *

 _According to the Noblesse S novel summary/translations, 'Parachute Trio' is an in-universe nickname for M-21, Takeo and Tao, the… strange new members of Ye Ran's security._

 _Don't worry, M-21, despite Tao you're more of a Quirky Miniboss Squad than something sentai. Then again, I don't know if that's much better…_


	8. Networking

_Part of why this AU became a multi-chapter thing instead of a single scenario is that even though the Trio definitely cares about the people who have taken them in, it's like they really haven't dared to try to get closer to them, even though Franken wants to encourage them to ask questions and Rai would like to be asked to do things for them etc. It's probably for the same reason Rai hasn't managed to get across the message that he'd really rather be called Rai to anyone but the school kids – they all have limited social skills, them from the labs and Rai from the manor. It's natural to be nervous about messing up something important to you._

 _Well, Tao has the social fu, but the ability to manipulate enemies for the sake of survival is not the same thing as positive relationships. It's interesting that he recreates a non-evil DA-5 in RK, since that's the group dynamic he's used to dealing with._

* * *

Tao was the first one home, but even so he still took off his shoes and put on house slippers before running up to his room. Sure, he was about to risk his life, but there were limits! He was the tactician, he wasn't going to make his odds worse.

Buried in among the equipment in his room was a tiny freezer.

M-21 had tried to get something past Boss: not happening.

In the Union, you needed to be tricky to survive, but Boss and Boss' master were honest people. Who cared about what he wanted. So he was going to make it clear that he knew exactly what he wanted.

The Boss was still in his office when Tao got back to the school - Tao had known he would be, when the meeting with the KSA in the morning ate up the time Boss had planned to do his paperwork before staff meetings and appointments with visitors began.

Blue eyes didn't look up at him from behind cosmetic reading glasses – some of Boss' glasses corrected his vision down to normal, while the ones he sometimes wore in the lab had one lens that practically worked like a microscope – which meant he really was trying to power through that pile of paperwork. Normally, the Chairman of Ye Ran was as good at pretending that he couldn't sense who people were without looking at them (when he was 'looking,' anyway) as he was at hiding that the foreigner known for his compassion for students' woes and his donations to charity could kill everyone in this school in… maybe more than a minute? Tao spent a lot of the school's money on those shelters and upgrades, it'd be embarrassing if it didn't make any difference at all!

He threw what he had in his hand down on the desk. Frankenstein's pen stilled as he watched it roll onto the PE department budget proposal he was correcting, mainly upwards. He cared about the health of his students.

He cared about _their_ health, and that was why Tao wasn't going to back down the way M-21 had.

"I've always done whatever I had to do, been whoever I had to be, in order to survive," Tao confessed, standing there in the Chairman's office, vial lying there on the desk between them. "I liked Takeo because with him, I didn't need to be evil to be the kind of person he would want to keep around, and with Ikhan… I could be a _fun_ person, not meaning anyone any harm. You, and _him_ , you're terrifyingly powerful. So I had to be whatever person you would want me to be, whatever kind of person you would like."

Frankenstein nodded sadly. "I've seen children raised in the power of monsters before, Tao. You aren't doing anything strange or wrong. You lived. That is what is important. Of course you're afraid. You lived in terror for years, and the organization that hurt you is still out there. Still wants to destroy you. Of course you're having a hard time discarding the shield that protected you. Especially now that you have people you want to protect."

Tao looked down at his clenched fists on Frankenstein's desk, shoulders hunched over, and laughed nervously. "You say things like that, you're people like, like the two of you are, and it makes you even scarier, you know? Because I want to think it's safe, I want to come out from behind, behind the mask. The shield?" Both were right, weren't they. "But then, what if I get hurt. What if _you_ hurt me? I think I'd die." He raised a hand to wipe at his face. "Like Takeo wanted to die after Dr. Aris, huh. M-21 would want to punch me if he was here, giving up surviving for so little…" It was hard not to laugh again, to try to hide behind that but he didn't know if he'd stop.

"Your social skills, your masks, are a skill, Tao. Just like your hacking skills, and Takeo's aim. How you use that skill is up to you. And you used it to pack ramyeon so Master had something of home in the place where he was alone for so long." Frankenstein smiled gently. "I told him about your Raizel Knights and he blushed, Tao. The Noblesse _blushed_ and made little noises. It was _adorable."_

Hearing that was a shock of… not of cold water. Still enough to make the rising hysteria vanish. Really? Had he really managed to make _him_ feel so much, care so much about Tao did that it broke a noble's, _that_ noble's composure? Did he deserve that reaction, though? "I just wanted to make you like me," Tao said quietly.

"So?" Frankenstein wondered. "An amazing percentage of all human effort is dedicated to making other people happy with us. It's natural to want to be loved. M-21 had the rest of the M-series, who wanted him to live. Takeo thought he had a sister who loved him. You had Takeo… some of the time, because you couldn't afford to be the kind of person Takeo would like when the others were around. Takeo's ability to kill let him afford to be soft: you were designed as support, so without someone to back you up… And Takeo had to put his sister first. You knew he couldn't put himself on the line for you. Humans need other people to survive and be happy. It is not good for us to be alone among enemies. You are a child and you want to live."

"I want you to drink it. If you don't, I'll ask _him_." Tao cringed, because that was unfair, that was an ultimatum, putting _him_ on the line was going to end in Dark Spear crackling around him.

Yet the menacing aura didn't come, only a measuring gaze. No, not measuring. Already measured. "You want to be known. You want to be found worthy. You want to be loved for who you are, and if that will never happen, then you want the pain to stop. You want to stop having to pretend to be vicious, dangerous. You want to be safe. To be secure. To know that you have the loving family every child should be entitled to have."

Boss was _a thousand years old_ , and from those eyes, Tao wasn't anything he hadn't seen before, in way too many kids. It still pissed him off, and Tao could see him suppress that anger (anger for him instead of at him!) so he could continue to speak calmingly instead of flipping into scary mode and maybe scaring Tao.

Frankenstein sighed. "In your case, I'm… considering options."

Tao jerked his head up, staring at him in hope.

"At least inquiring of Seira how exactly the bond she has with Regis functions. Even if Gejutel is worried for them, I can't see him telling children how to set up anything permanent or intrusive."

If Gejutel thought it was okay for children, then maybe Boss might decide it was safe enough for Tao?

"But if it is possible for a temporary, non-mind-control-based bond between two noble children to function for humans, then if you want that bond with me I'll have to do it for M-21 and Takeo, and that's four times the risk someone will drain Master's power, and if that happens, how do you think you will feel?" Frankenstein asked him. "Then there's adding an energy channel – which _will_ have a certain error rate, I am not a noble – into your body's ongoing stabilization process."

When that meant it would slow down how fast even Boss could safely make him stronger, and Tao was already the weakest.

Normally contracts were supposed to make humans stronger, but after Raizel had already awakened him? Tao couldn't drain any more of _his_ lifeforce, he just couldn't.

Tao wasn't going to treat _him_ as something to use up, the way the Union treated him. Dr. Aris hadn't exactly cared about Tao's lifespan. Frankenstein hadn't even finished getting all the damage from the modifications and taking those pills tidied away without letting them lose any power while he switched them over to ways of having the same powers that _didn't_ slowly kill them when Tao asked for more enhancements on top of that. Each change meant a new baseline needed to stabilize, or stabilize enough, before additional changes could be made. The Union, when Tao was made, couldn't modify people more than once, because once modified they weren't baseline humans anymore. Most of the Union's experiments fell apart, too. Constantly watching over them and making adjustments the way Frankenstein did, making sure they didn't fall apart?

The _Union's_ modifications were science fiction to civilians, and they were trial and error. What Frankenstein could do knowing the theory? It wasn't that he was careless. He took meticulous measurements when he was experimenting with _cooking_ , he wasn't going to be the kind of chef that just tossed things in a pot dealing with _people_ , but Tao bet he _totally_ could whip something up in a cauldron if he wanted to. It wasn't like they had this kind of lab equipment back when Boss was modifying himself, right?

If the Union could turn Elders into praying mantises or whatever, there was no way Boss couldn't turn someone into a human-sized frog if they annoyed him enough.

How was Tao supposed to coordinate tactics and use his equipment from a lily pond?

"If a bond between two nobles won't function for humans, a contract is not something that can be revoked. It takes a noble's power, or borrowed power, to link our souls, but once they are linked even… even Master's death would not sever us. Once the Union is finally destroyed and I've settled any remaining affairs, my soul is promised to Dark Spear. While Dark Spear isn't able to affect Master, you are vulnerable to it. If we are contracted, when it takes me it will obtain a piece of your soul, and it will not stop trying to consume the rest of you."

That made Tao gasp.

Not that part about if he outlived Frankenstein, because how likely was that to happen, but was Boss really going to let Dark Spear eat him? In exchange for using it? Or trying to make it be less scary or something?

Something else for the list of things Tao needed to find some way to stop being powerless to stop.

"If we make a contract, you will be hurt," Frankenstein told him.

"I don't care," Tao said without even thinking about it. He was leaning forward over the desk now, searching for some sign of Dark Spear not as a warning he needed to run for it but _was Boss okay?_

"I see why you don't, when you're hurting this much already. But, you see," he said, and smiled. "I refuse to be a reason you suffer. If allowing you to suffer was acceptable to me, you would not be here trying to force your blood on me, or at least I _damn well hope you wouldn't_."

Tao hesitated. He wanted to say that he was desperate enough to do it anyway, to make a contract with someone who might treat him like the Union did just so the boss would be worried enough to resort to desperate measures, but… "No. It's because… It's why you gave _him_ your blood, isn't it? I can… I can trust you to think about what's best for me. That's why I don't want you to be able to leave. When _he_ told all of us to leave, before you explained that it was because he was afraid he couldn't protect us and wanted us to be safe even if it meant he was alone, it…" It had hurt. "I don't trust myself, but I trust you."

He wanted to argue that this would make him stronger, so he could protect Boss and Boss' Master, but he understood about how the main issue was his stability, his body being able to handle the strain so it didn't fall apart like _his_. If a Contract would be a source of instability? He couldn't protect them if he screwed up and dropped dead like Dr. Aris when she ate that pill.

Watching him, the boss sighed. "You're my employee. When we get home, sit down next to Master and I'll walk him through giving you a hug."

Tao jerked his head up to stare at Frankenstein again. Really?

It seemed to come out of nowhere. Like, aside from knocking people to the ground and standing on them, or showing Tao how to insert IV needles so he could do it for himself and Takeo instead of having a scientist do things to them, or actual surgery, Boss didn't touch people. Tao had figured he didn't like it, and according to his research that could fit with how he hated it when things were filthy. Raizel was more likely to touch Frankenstein than Frankenstein was to touch Raizel, and Raizel was a _noble_. Frankenstein's Master only touched him when Frankenstein was very upset and the situation called for drastic measures.

That smile actually reached Boss' blue eyes, so yes, really. "I am… working on it, but I discovered the existence of germs during a trying time in my life. Master restricts himself to patting me on the shoulder because when I'm already strained, it can be harder for me to restrain obsessive thoughts. Go to Master when you want a hug. He will be very happy to have something he can do to help you." Frankenstein gave him a warning frown. "Be sure you are wearing clean clothes and wash your hands, however. I'm aware that secondary infections can't happen to nobles, but he is weak, in humans that makes them vulnerable and he is dear to me. That's why it's hard to keep the need to have a clean environment for him under control."

Tao nodded. Hearing and obeying an order was an easy mode to fall back on, but the Noblesse hugging him?

Was that… really going to happen? And the boss would help make it happen?

Frankenstein smiled. "As your employer, it is improper for _me_ to initiate physical contact under any circumstances. However, there is no one here, and Master and I will respect your will."

Tao was over on his side of the desk in a flash. He'd just been told that Frankenstein had a problem with hugs, but here he was pressing his face against the man's neck anyway, like he was the vampire. He should pull back and ask if that was okay, but he didn't want to.

He felt glee, that he was actually getting to do this! And it was okay, or at least Frankenstein was okay with doing this for him, since an arm wrapped around his back and Frankenstein attempted to settle Tao comfortably against his side but the chair wasn't really made for that. "Let's sit down on the couch," his boss told him when Tao showed no signs of letting go. It wasn't like Tao cared if his spine spent awhile being scrunched.

Still, it was an improvement. He got to sit half on Frankenstein's lap, with his head tucked under his chin somehow. One arm wrapped around his back, and the other one was for awhile too before it reached up to start going through Tao's hair.

Normally, he didn't like not having anything to do. It meant he _thought_ about things, and that wasn't a very nice thing to do when he worked for the Union. He had to think about his situation to survive, but it wasn't something to dwell on or he'd just give up inside, like he'd seen others do, and then they were terminated. Had to stay busy. Had to prove to the Union that they wanted to keep him around.

These days, his mind went to worrying about the household. What if he messed up, what if he lost this?

"Thank you for coming to me with this instead of Master, Tao," Frankenstein told him. "You did the right thing."

"Seems kind of silly, I mean, I know… He would say yes, right?" Tao wondered. So why had he gone to the person who had told M-21 no?

"Yes," Frankenstein agreed. "He would give you what you wanted no matter the cost to himself, and blame himself if it made you sad. He can't say no to you. He loves you too dearly. And before you say that he only loves the mask you've cultivated, Master is the Noblesse. He is made to see people's true souls, and he is certain of yours."

They were just such ridiculously wonderful people that the part of him that calculated survival, that saw everything as assets, freaked out every time it looked at them. It wasn't just 'don't offend them or you'll die,' it was ' _hold on to these for dear life_.' Like he was used to making do with paperclips and bits of string and suddenly a supercomputer.

Awe. And _'Mine!'_ He couldn't risk them getting away!

They'd given him enough power to eat Shark for breakfast. With the power they'd given him, he would have had to be so much less afraid back when he was in the Union… But no. He'd have to be even more afraid. Because they'd want these modifications, want Boss' work. _They_ wanted the shiny things he'd found. They wanted to take these people away from him.

He couldn't let them! Not when he had someone with the power of an _Elder_ who was willing to just sit here and _hold_ him so he'd feel better. Even after he'd tried to take Boss' Master hostage, _what had he been thinking_. He was lucky Dark Spear wasn't eating him!

It wasn't, because they were… nice.

"It's like unicorns," he said, randomly, so Boss wouldn't worry. Saying whatever he wanted to say without having to care about what other people might think: that was the Tao he'd become here, instead of the one who had to use words like knives to fend Shark off, because otherwise the real knives would come out.

"Oh? What about the Landegre?" Boss wondered, fingers rubbing his head in locations and with a pattern that seemed to have some purpose to it. Something for getting rid of headaches? Felt nice.

Tao almost went bolt upright with glee, but that would have meant leaving the hug. "Regis is a unicorn?"

Boss hummed. "Quite possibly – they are shapeshifters, and they must have looked like _something_ before they took on human form. The unicorn, or possibly karkadann, is the Landegre clan's symbol."

Oh _wow_ this was going to be fun. What was Rael's clan symbol, then…

Fun.

That was what they'd wanted from him, wasn't it? For him to get to play around. Not pretending to be harmless, but getting to _do what he wanted_. What made him _happy_. Like someone who didn't have to be deadly serious, because there were other people to be deadly serious _for_ him.

Like unicorns, he'd thought good people like this didn't really exist. Then he'd found some, and other people wanted to kill them for, for things that weren't anywhere _near_ as valuable as what they were worth to Tao alive.

Huh, he realized, pressed against Boss' chest. Frankenstein's heartbeat was really, _really_ slow. Enhanced humans' were slower than normal humans', but not this slow. Like how enhanced humans needed less sleep, but too much less and their bodies broke down, while Boss went into his bedroom for like a half-hour and definitely didn't suffer any cognitive impairment. If he even spent that entire half-hour sleeping, since there was probably getting ready for bed and post-waking up rituals in there.

He was being pressed against a warm body protectively. There was an arm wrapped around him that could wave buildings off the map. He…

…was…

..safe?

No, no, he was only safe as long as nothing happened to them, he _couldn't_ let anything happen to them, and it made him shudder. "We weren't lying," he said, and had to swallow. "I wasn't lying when I asked _him_ not to save us. It's not just Takeo. I, I would have died too, instead of letting _him_ use up his life just to save us. I don't… I don't want to go back to being alive when you aren't with me. I don't want…"

"You don't want to be alone. You don't want to lose your parents," Frankenstein said, although he waited awhile after Tao's voice failed him before speaking. "Do you want to cry?"

Tao laughed nervously. "No way! Why would I want to cry?" That was blood in the water, wasn't it? That was a death sentence. Anyone who did that was going to vanish before very long.

Wait.

Parents?

"Because you finally have someone who will listen, and care. You have people who will guard your back while you cry. You are allowed to be weak, and need help, and you will be given help."

Instead of terminated for being weak and useless. If Tao's enhancements were a failure, they'd need to get rid of him, start on another test subject. The Union couldn't, _wouldn't_ help him. If he needed help, that was the end of him.

Raizel would help Tao _even if it killed him_.

He… he had people like this? They were real? They were… this was what it was like to have parents?

"It doesn't bother me to be cried on," Frankenstein told him. "It's rather like being bled on while I'm trying to staunch a wound. Someone in pain concentrates the mind wonderfully. I have an overactive need to _fix_ things. I don't like things that are out of place. Crumbs on my furniture. Children in agony."

"I need to do something," he said, tugging on Boss' shirt. "So you'll keep me around." He _said_ things like that, so Tao needed Boss to be happy with him. To love him. Need him, _anything_ that would reduce the risk that he'd lose this.

Even if they'd let themselves be taken away from him over their dead bodies.

 _Especially_ because of that.

"No," Frankenstein told him, "you don't. However, if it would make you feel better, more secure, I don't think anyone would _complain_ if you managed to reduce Master to blushing and tiny inarticulate noises again. It was _adorable_ … and I think it would help you, to understand how happy you've made us."

Because when Boss' Master was happy, Boss was happy. Like if they were happy with him, Tao would be happy? "Right!" he chirped, snuggling against him. "Leave it to me!" He could feel the plotting wheels engaging again, not desperate like they were before but with something _wonderful_ to think about, a prize he _really really wanted_ and might actually _have_ and no one looking over his shoulder to terminate him if he wasn't good enough, or even because the model waiting in the wings was better.

If Boss didn't like having _lots_ of kids around to look after, he wouldn't run schools. Tao was still special, because he got to live with him, and after more than eight hundred years Boss had started enhancing people again just to help him and the others get stronger.

Right, though. He did have to get stronger, but that could… he'd have to keep thinking about that, if Boss giving him a Contract wasn't the answer.

It was okay to think about something else for now though, right? To give Boss a squeeze, and say something enthusiastic and ridiculous, and run off leaving him smiling?

Was it really… Yes, that really was all they wanted, scientist and noble or not.

So he _was going to be the best at it ever_.

* * *

Frankenstein got another cup of coffee, sat back down and sighed, before thinking better of it and going in search of decaf. Caffeine wouldn't be helpful right now, no. "Thank goodness I have all that practice letting people down gently." Oh, that reminded him. Awhile ago he was going to give Shinwoo some advice on how to stop breaking the hearts of all those people who fell for him when the boy ran off suddenly. He should probably get around to that before there was another incident like that with both halves of the couple from that other school. Or not. Mr. Park deserved some entertainment as compensation for Shinwoo always being late on his gate duty days. He _had_ offered to help the young man…

Hmm. Now all of the children had come to him for The Talk except Takeo, come to think of it. He would probably have to initiate the conversation with Takeo himself. Takeo was too practiced hiding from his own thoughts and needs by putting someone else first, beginning with that 'little sister.'

For the others to have their concerns addressed while he was left out, even if it was by his own choice, would just feed that mindset. And it fed far too neatly into what the sniper had internalized of the Union's opinion that Takeo, and his own needs and wishes, were worthless.

Interesting how, out of all the things Frankenstein had been _doing_ for the past eight hundred years, it was the wistful thinking, self-indulgent almost-hobby of 'if I do find him, what will we do then? How will I make him happy and keep him distracted so he doesn't spend his life while I finally get around to investigating the traitors and Union again and gradually assassinating them?' and founding schools that was serving him in such good stead.

* * *

 _Shinwoo goes to Frankenstein (and a bunch of other people) for advice on how to attract girls and Frankenstein assumes he needs advice on dealing with all the people who have fallen for him._

 _The couple from the other school is from the Noblesse S web novel content, the partial summary/translation on the egscans forums. When last we saw them, the boy was kind of stunned by Shinwoo being awesome. Until/unless there are further translations, I'm going to assume his girlfriend just goes 'I know, right?'_


	9. How to Show You Care

_Honestly in this fic I've done more sometimes-alternate human psych than xenopsych, but then the main focus really is on the human end of things... Or the human end of the human-inhuman interface, with attendant culture clash and some problems that happen not because the two species are foreign to each other, but_ because _they fit so well together that there are buttons there to be hit (the way your parents can hit your buttons so easily because they installed most of them)._

 _Yes, I promise I'll get to Seira/Shinwoo eventually, I wasn't expecting this fic to explode on me._

 _If you haven't read_ Bridge of Birds _by Barry Hughart, I highly recommend it, but there's a passage... which is actually a spoiler, come to think of it. About the difference between two people who love the same human and two people who worship the same god._

* * *

It had been a long day. First precautions for the KSA meeting, then their usual duties. Then, the instant school got out? Instead of Takeo finally having a chance to get Tao alone and calm him down about whatever he'd realized during the morning's meeting, Tao had vanished. When he finally came home, he went right up to his room and Takeo had followed.

Asking Frankenstein for a contract after M-21 was rejected? Of all the…

But then, that was Tao in this place, tactician or not.

This was a place where he could survive being that impulsive. That honest.

When M-21 had asked Frankenstein if Takeo and Tao could stay, Takeo's major concerns were his sister and not angering Frankenstein. The Union was also a threat, but that would have been the case anywhere he and Tao tried to run. Frankenstein was the new and immediate danger, if one he was willing to accept for the sake of having protection from the Union, treatment to keep the modifications done because they were _disposable_ from making him die young (he had a sister to think about) and a safehouse.

If this sanctuary was real, if he'd really found a safe place, he could have brought Teira here to keep the Union from killing her once they discovered Takeo was still alive. It was obvious within days that Frankenstein's ability to actually _save_ patients was far beyond the Union's. The Union didn't see that as a priority.

Once Tao found Teira, if he had Tao's assistance (and maybe some of the others?) retrieving her? Maybe Frankenstein could even cure her.

Then he found out the truth about Dr. Aris.

It wasn't premeditated. She'd randomly called him brother and thought his reaction was funny. At the time, that just made it worse, but hearing M-21 talk about his comrades, now that he and Tao were almost brothers, it made him wonder.

Was Dr. Aris calling him that a Freudian slip? Did she have an older brother, before her mind was wiped? Was the Teira he knew really all an act? If there was anything left in him of the man he was before the Union (and he had to believe that, for the sake of M-21's dream), what about her? She'd turned to nanotechnology to give herself more power because she was also one of the Union's modified humans, and until the South Korea lab's breakthrough and execution, the Union couldn't modify people twice without the complications and side effects killing them.

The Dr. Aris made with the same mould that produced Dr. Crombel. Another researcher who thought human life had no value. Exactly what the Union wanted.

The Dr. Aris who designed Tao to die, who lied to him… he couldn't forgive that Dr. Aris.

But he had to wonder, now that M-21 had made him start thinking about _before_. Because most of the Union's researchers weren't modified. They weren't stupid enough to want to die in risky experiments, and the Union didn't want to risk their brains. Someone who was already a test subject? They needed to produce valuable data. Train one in the Union's scientific knowledge? They wouldn't live long enough to make much use of it.

But if the Union wanted a scientist, and that scientist refused to have anything to do with them? Why not take the risk of wiping and modifying them?

They were already dead just for knowing about the Union, forget defying it. Letting them die as themselves would just be a waste of raw materials.

Not that this possibility would make Takeo hesitate to pull the trigger if he had a Union scientist or one of the modified humans who actually _believed_ what the Union told them in his sights.

The Union would have killed him (faster) if he ever showed any signs of hesitating to murder an assigned target.

If there was a decent person in there somewhere, they'd thank him for stopping them before they killed anyone else.

Frankenstein could keep gradually upgrading them because he knew the overall theory, so he could fit individual modifications into the picture and know the effects they'd have on various systems and compensate for them. The fact he cared about making sure Takeo and the others were stable meant they could survive adjusting to new modifications without the disruption to the body's homeostasis collapsing a body modified to increase performance at the cost of survival.

Takeo kept having to hit the range buried in one of the sublevels, to adjust to what the improvements did to his aim. A slight increase in strength could move the muzzle higher than expected.

He knew from his guns that systems with several delicate moving parts required a great deal of care to function properly. The human body was composed of trillions of parts, hundreds of systems, and that was just the physical body, what the medical information online he'd read wanting to see if there was anything to help Teira was allowed to know about.

If humans were psychic, then was the aura some modified humans had something that was already there, before the Union tampered with it? Was the placebo effect something like a noble's healing abilities, where the mind controlled the physical form?

Tao was the one modified for information gathering, but Takeo had always liked learning. Talking to people. Trying (and failing, because the Union was the Union) to protect them.

For now, he needed his gun. He needed to stay a weapon. He wanted this home, he wanted the school, and if he wanted to keep them he would have to grow strong enough to protect them.

But he didn't envy Frankenstein his power; he envied the fact Frankenstein was able to set it aside for centuries.

Takeo didn't want power.

He wanted Ye Ran.

He was a weapon. He'd killed so many people, and the few he thought he'd spared Shark had murdered on Krans' orders the instant his back was turned. He didn't deserve to be in a place like this. He shouldn't have spoken to Yuna and Shinwoo; he'd just put them in danger.

But Frankenstein, who did not tolerate dangers to his students, allowed him to join the school security team.

That was already so much, it felt like too much, but being a teacher? Running a school like this? A safe place, where people could learn without having to be afraid? He needed an education for that. He didn't even have a high school education, although for all he knew the person he was before had gone to college.

Did the person he was before love learning, or had he taken the possibility for granted?

M-21 needed the names of the M-series not because he cared about the past, but as proof they existed, that they were more than serial numbers, a hundred among the thousands the Union erased and used up, discarded as failures.

Takeo couldn't ask Tao to try to find out if Takeo truly had a sister. Not now. Not with the Union still out there, and paying attention to South Korea.

If the Union hadn't bothered to remember Takeo's name, if the Union didn't care that Takeo once had a life if not a family (according to Dr. Aris, but who knew if that meant anything?), then he wasn't going to remind them. He'd gotten enough people killed by the Union.

He understood why Tao had wanted the same kind of contract with the Boss he looked up to that Frankenstein had with _him_. Takeo thought that M-21 had really wanted a bond with _him_ , not just the scientist, but hadn't felt right approaching _him_ with a request like that and the two of them were a package deal, weren't they? They'd seen the bond between Frankenstein and Raizel and it was something to envy, but it was more than just that.

To be tied by blood would mean they had a right to be here, so he understood why M-21 and Tao would be tempted, when they still didn't quite understand why anyone would take them in and sacrifice for their sake.

Takeo knew why.

He would have done the same for Teira.

That was why he wasn't too worried when Frankenstein asked Takeo to remain downstairs for a moment and then gave M-21 a pointed goodnight with a request for him to tell Tao he'd better remember the rule about no recording where his master was present. Raizel was unruffled, and if he was supervising… no, it was unfair to Frankenstein to think that way. Even if he had used Raizel's presence in the lab as a prop when they'd first come to the house, hadn't he? To reassure them that the scientist was being supervised and wouldn't just do whatever he wanted to them.

The depressurizing high-tech equipment was a _cookie machine_ , and seeing a scientist acting like a servant instead of… it had to have been deliberate, in hindsight. Something to keep them too _boggled_ by how strange this place was for Tao and Takeo to think of it as a normal lab. For it to put them back in the same mindset of just agreeing to anything, knowing the alternative, as the Union's labs did. The clearly-calculated in hindsight first impressions they were given proved Frankenstein couldn't be an ordinary scientist: he definitely couldn't be a normal _anything_. Even the other _nobles_ thought he was strange. The first time they got wound up over Frankenstein performing an experiment, it turned out to be _having M-21 taste-test his ramyeon recipes_?

Well, no, Takeo would definitely be wrong to think that it was all done for their sake. Raizel was Frankenstein's top priority, not them. But they were _a_ priority, and Frankenstein had a long time to learn how to calm down scared patients and children.

"Takeo," Frankenstein said, sitting down.

"Yes, sir?"

"Master has expressed an interest in learning how to hug people, and I was wondering if you would be willing to assist."

Takeo blinked, and realized why the houseowner had sat down. Less intimidating.

"If you'd rather not, Tao already implied that he would be willing, but I think he might be a little energetic for Master to deal with on a first attempt."

True, Takeo thought, glancing at Raizel, who was tactfully ignoring the conversation. Also trying to avoid pressuring Takeo.

"Regis and Seira are nobles, which won't do, and my responses to physical contact are… atypical. Even before I started having to worry about contact poisons and skin cell samples. If you'd rather not, Takeo, I'll ask M-21, but I think you would be ideal."

Why wouldn't nobles do? If species mattered, then would M-21's werewolf heart be a problem? "Of course I'll help," Takeo said, realizing he was the best person for this in the household.

Frankenstein smiled at him, the Chairman's smile with his glasses on. "Thank you." He stood up, and bowed to his Master. "Master, if you would? I believe we should start with Takeo demonstrating proper technique, and it would be simplest if you stood up."

The Noblesse nodded regally and stood, following Frankenstein into the clear area near the fishtank. Takeo followed.

"Takeo, if you would?"

Raizel stood there, watching with the same look of focus he had when he was reading his textbooks or Frankenstein's gaming manuals. His expressions were slight, but Takeo's vision and attention to detail were enough to pick up the slight pursing of the lips and narrowing of the eyes. Carefully, Takeo took another step forward and hugged him.

The Noblesse just stood there. He didn't tense up as Takeo's arms wrapped around him, or give any signs of feeling uncomfortable. There was just no reaction or response.

He was shorter than Takeo, like Teira, so Takeo could hold him about the same way, but when he hugged her Teira always -

Frankenstein's voice was a welcome interruption. "The most basic definition of a hug is that one person's arms are wrapped around the other person, enough the one being embraced can feel some pressure, so they are aware they are being hugged," Frankenstein lectured. "Humans find this comforting for several reasons. The biochemical ones would be a great deal of trouble to emulate, so that will have to wait until you're feeling better. Some of the others are first, the practical: while you are hugging someone, an enemy would have to go through you to reach them."

He felt Raizel's nod.

When Raizel was the Noblesse, that was a significant barrier… but Takeo wished he wouldn't.

"Second, humans are, or had better be, hugged a great deal as small children by adults who are caring for and assisting them, so the hug becomes associated with safety, and the knowledge that they have help with whatever problems they are facing. Third, while a human is within someone's grasp, they are 'caught.' The person who has caught them could then proceed to harm them… but they don't; instead of harming, they help by offering comfort and support. This reminds people that they are with someone that they can trust, and helps them feel less nervous."

Takeo watched Raizel watch Frankenstein.

"For these reasons, a hug helps humans calm down by giving them _reasons_ to be calm. Two humans working together can do more than one alone, so it isn't that problems will _seem_ less difficult after a hug, but a hug proves those problems will be easier to overcome. In addition to the sense of relief, knowing that someone wants to help will make people happier because it reminds them that they are loved. Takeo, if you would pull Master in a little closer, please?"

"Yes," he said, restraining the urge to say, 'Forgive me, sir,' to Raizel.

When Raizel let him, Takeo felt himself relax a little, relieved that Raizel wasn't unwilling, he just didn't seem to know what to do with being hugged.

Well, wasn't Takeo here to help him with that?

"This should be treated as a second stage." Frankenstein waited a few seconds, watching and giving Takeo a nod of approval when he adjusted Raizel's position. "The next step is to demonstrate how a human would react to being hugged. Takeo, if you would, please release Master."

Takeo nodded and took a step back.

"Master, when you're ready, please hug Takeo so Takeo can demonstrate proper behavior when being hugged. How to tell whether or not a human is open to being hugged without using your power is outside the scope of this lecture, I'm afraid. Master. I will find out which members of the household are alright with you hugging them if the situation calls for it and inform you. Some cultures often exchange quick hugs as greetings, especially among family members. I'll write an overview of the subject for you later, but since Takeo is willing to assist we will focus on the practical."

There was a slight frown on the Noblesse's face as he put his arms around the enhanced human, clearly trying to get it right. How seriously he took this made Takeo smile, although he tried to hide it so Raizel didn't think Takeo was laughing. This level of deliberation in how he moved was probably the closest Raizel would ever come to being awkward.

"Don't worry, Master, this is a first attempt and it shouldn't be too elaborate at this stage regardless," Frankenstein smiled, looking amused and pleased that they were both doing well.

Takeo relaxed into Raizel's hug, trying to encourage him.

"During the first stage initial embrace Takeo demonstrated, it's normal for a human to tense up for a moment as they register that they have been 'caught.' If they don't relax within a couple of seconds, you should release them. If a hug is working, then you will feel them gradually relax. If they relax and press closer to you, or lean against you and allow you to support them, then they are pleased that they are being hugged and would like you to continue. Often, the person being hugged will return the hug almost instantly…" From the look at Takeo, that was his cue, so he wrapped his arms around Raizel, putting his head on Raizel's shoulder. "But I'm afraid these three lost their memories of when they were hugged on a regular basis, so it might take them some time to remember what to do. So don't worry that much about your technique, Master."

They'd be relearning it along with him, Takeo thought, and then realized that was part of what Frankenstein was doing.

This lesson wasn't only for his Master.

"A hug that moves to the second stage will last an unknown length of time. If either party wishes to pull away, it's good to give a final squeeze, or a pat on the back, or some other sign – Takeo?"

Takeo took that as a cue to demonstrate and squeezed Raizel before letting go.

With barely even a fraction of the strength he had, or that the Noblesse could endure. He just wanted him to feel it.

"A good response to that signal is to squeeze them one final time, to again remind them that you care for them and are happy to have them close, but then to cease applying pressure and let go. Part of the message is that they are wanted, but not trapped. They are free to rely on you when they need a hug or other help, but also to leave if they wish."

Like all of them here, Takeo thought, watching the scientist as he seemingly ignored Takeo to watch his master's face and see if he was following.

"If someone is holding out their arms – Takeo?"

Demonstration time again.

"That means they are asking for a hug. Nod, stand up or give some other sign that you are willing to give them a hug. Open your own arms and embrace them as they embrace you."

Raizel followed the directions, dignified and elegant as ever, but this wasn't the serene focus he had with cups of tea, this was the focus he had when he wanted ramyeon.

It took Takeo a moment to remember to relax, feeling almost stunned by it. That was Raizel's cue that yes, he was supposed to relax too.

A noble's grace let him fit into Takeo's arms easily, as though he was meant to be there. Takeo felt his arms moving up Raizel's back, tucking that black head under his chin.

And the Noblesse let him, as though it was only natural.

"Once both of you have found a comfortable position, it would be natural for you to stay in that position, Master, but a hug is a form of non-verbal communication. While stillness and listening are important parts of a conversation, it is also important to respond so the other person knows that you care what they have to say. If the person you are hugging shifts slightly, move a little to accommodate the new position, in order to convey that yes, you do want to be close to them. A hug is a way of reminding people that you care for them, so it is also a good idea to periodically give them some reminder that you are here. Takeo, if you could demonstrate?"

Demonstrate?

Reminding Raizel that he was here, that Takeo wanted to be here, to protect him?

A little small squeeze, and he felt Raizel stiffen, gathering himself up a bit, before deciding that this wasn't the same as the cue to end the hug when Takeo didn't start to pull away.

Carefully, Raizel squeezed him back.

Takeo found himself taking a deep breath, and his eyes widened.

How had he not noticed before? Raizel didn't smell human.

Of course he wouldn't. There wouldn't be any sweat or oil on his skin to emit pheromones or natural odors. That would be inelegant.

There was the clean scent of the fabrics of his shirt and jacket, warmed by his skin. The tea Takeo smelled probably came from the jacket too – all that steam would have carried some of the scent with it.

"Ah, you've noticed he doesn't have a natural scent," Frankenstein said, nodding.

That was what made Takeo realize that he'd been sniffing Raizel. He blushed, and pulled back. "Sorry, sir."

"No, exchanging scents is one of the biochemical purposes of a hug. Human scents are very individual, and humans also have very good senses of smell. Your subconscious wants to know what he smells like so it can recognize him as a friend, and tagging him with your scent serves the same function. My natural scent is a little too attractive, so I wear a cologne that emulates a less distracting one."

Raizel looked at the scientist questioningly.

Takeo hadn't seen Frankenstein pale often. "Forgive me, Master, but while you attend a high school that would not be a good idea. That reminds me, I should warn Miss Seira…"

"Does that mean we need to be careful about touching them?" Takeo asked, worried.

"No, a noble's power will remove anything from their body unless they want it there. This includes a human's scent markers. A noble that smells like a human… Ahem." Frankenstein pulled himself together: had that been _embarrassment_? "The human subconscious seems to regard it as a signal that the noble is open to human advances. Intimate advances. Currently, while Master and Miss Seira have a great many admirers among the students, no one has fallen excessively in love with them, the way they would have if Master and Miss Seira were human. If, for instance, Miss Seira was to walk across campus wearing another student's sports jacket, that would change. You've heard of love at first sight and other cases where people who barely know each other are suddenly very devoted?"

"Yes?" Really?

"Yes," Frankenstein said, wincing. "Teenagers are vulnerable to sudden infatuation to begin with: to make them think Master or Miss Seira were available would simply be cruel, especially when Miss Seira… well."

Miss Seira was a very nice and thoughtful person overall, but even Takeo knew that Seira had zero patience with being hit on, probably because Rael had used up even a noble's lifetime supply.

As for Raizel, what would he do? The Noblesse, break someone's heart? What was he supposed to do surrounded by a few dozen admirers? Or more! Even thinking about it made Takeo wince: poor Raizel!

The eyes of Raizel's bonded grew darker with anger and disgust. "I wasn't the one who discovered this: the criminals back in my day knew that trick and used their 'inability' to stop humans from adoring them not just as a way to obtain gifts, but justify their possession of goods obtained by theft, mind control and the sale of power."

"Frankenstein," Raizel said.

"Yes, Master?"

"The lesson."

"Ah, yes." Hmm. "We should cover how to hug someone while sitting down, and since a standard hug from a noble won't be quite as effective as one from a human for various reasons, depending on how we're doing I'll cover a few of the simpler techniques for helping someone relax that can be incorporated into a hug."

* * *

Sitting on the couch, Raizel looked down at the enhanced human curled up against him and then, eyes slightly wide, up at Frankenstein.

He felt his master's query, and yes, he had known that this was something that could happen, especially when Takeo had clearly had a worrying day under his perpetual effort to remain calm and not trouble others, and no, Frankenstein hadn't thought to mention it.

He wouldn't want to get Master's hopes up; that way lay disappointment instead of pleasant surprises. When Master was kindly doing such a favor for him, he wanted Master to enjoy it.

Frankenstein couldn't.

Being touched _bothered_ Frankenstein. It wasn't just his OCD and mysophobia. If a vampire could touch him, then it could almost certainly take his blood. Then he had the Union and their arsenal of contact poisons to worry about, even before they used his research to unleash enhanced plagues. And what they would do to the poor children if they got a gene sample from him and he couldn't retrieve it!

Frankenstein had an entirely rational paranoia about anyone touching him, ingrained over a millennium of watching his back. Master was the only exception, for a host of reasons. It wasn't even a matter of trust alone – the connection between them made it impossible for anyone to impersonate Cadis Etrama di Raizel.

Having _anyone_ else's arms wrapped around him made his skin crawl.

But, it was the best way to make Tao feel better, so he'd simply had to conceal his urgent desire to _get it off me_. It wasn't that difficult, when he had plenty of practice concealing Dark Spear's agony.

Simply… uncomfortable. Very unpleasant. And he needed to do his best to avoid hugging any of them ever again, because he could not take the risk that his control would slip and Tao would find out just how much that had bothered him. Thankfully, if his mind was under enough strain that _get it off me_ would turn into _kill it_ , they'd never be able to get in grabbing range of him in the first place.

Frankenstein was responsible for most of the care of the humans in his household, with Master's agreement. After all, Frankenstein _was_ a human, and all of Master's knowledge of parenting came from what he'd seen in the minds of clan leaders, when the Noblesse was prohibited from making any unprofessional use of that information.

However, after reading the overview on trauma recovery Frankenstein had prepared for him, Master had made it clear that whenever M-21 improved enough to seek out physical contact with either of them, _Master would handle it_.

It was suboptimal: there was no way around that. Master didn't have the instincts or biochemistry for this. However, Master had stated that he would simply have to learn this, the way there were so many other things he would have to learn in this world, and he relied on Frankenstein's ability to teach him. Master would _not_ permit Frankenstein to suffer when Master could shield him from it without spending his lifeforce, and that was that.

He hadn't gone against Master's orders and _offered_ a hug to Tao, but he had bent them by saying that it would be alright if Tao hugged him. In his defense, Tao had been upset enough to offer his _soul_ and it was centuries since Frankenstein last found himself in a situation like that off the battlefield. He'd thought his reaction would be less severe.

Unfortunately, stress aggravated such things.

Under the circumstances, he could only be thankful for his Master's assistance. He could only be relieved that his inability to handle this on his own was making his Master happy instead of burdening his fragile soul.

This time.

His master sighed, and pointed out that, "He is sleeping."

Frankenstein blinked. Ah, yes. Given Master's power, Frankenstein being upset _was_ much more likely to wake Raizel from hibernation than someone talking nearby. He could see how it might not occur to Raizel that humans were different. But, 'Stop being hard on yourself, you'll wake the baby?'

Clearly it was possible for his noble to be this cute, incontrovertible evidence was right here in front of him.

Seeing Frankenstein's smile, Master looked back down at the sleeping Takeo.

Adult nobles did not normally sleep; they hibernated to recover from injury. It seemed that a sleeping human Takeo's age inspired the same instinctive protectiveness as an injured child, without the panic and anger that a child's pain or severe injury would cause a noble parent.

No, Frankenstein corrected himself. Takeo might be physically stable, but the injuries the Union dealt to his selfhood were still healing. To senses far more fundamental to Raizel than sight, Takeo was still scarred and far too thin, even if the wounds had healed over and he was beginning to put on a little more weight.

His master's aura was agitated, feeling the need to _do something_ for Takeo and not certain of what to do. "It is enough," Frankenstein reassured him. "He feels safe with you."

The trouble was that his master knew that he was dying, and was not sure he could keep Takeo and the other children safe anymore. Give them the sanctuary they needed, they _deserved_ , in order to heal.

It wasn't the physical contact that made Takeo falling asleep like this significant to his master. The fact that Takeo was willing to sleep in his master's home, under his protection – their protection, Frankenstein corrected himself, feeling his master's slight displeasure that Frankenstein wasn't appreciating his own significance – already meant a great deal to Raizel.

What left his master mentally flailing and reaching out to Frankenstein for help under an only-mostly-unperturbed façade was _seeing_ this. Since Frankenstein moved into his manor, Raizel had learned how to tune out his psychic abilities most of the time, the way Frankenstein did. It wasn't just a courtesy to his human guest, but a relief to his master. So although he knew that there were five children (an impossible bounty of them to a noble, at least until humans started taking advantage) who felt safe in this house, having an intellectual awareness of that was different from _seeing_ Takeo rest like this, knowing he was in Raizel's grasp and still without any trace of fear.

When Raizel had to isolate himself because they were _afraid_.

"Noble children sleep," his master reminded him as he looked down at Takeo's unlined, peaceful face. Even so distracted, he knew that Frankenstein was interested in such things. "When they are growing."

Growing, healing. In the sanctuary Raizel provided. Even in his arms, instead of curling up and hiding somewhere out of the sight of such a deadly being. For Takeo to fall asleep here, without even the token defense of a wall, was proof he was unafraid.

He could feel how much it affected his master, and he smiled, glad to feel how _warm_ Raizel felt, after so long alone, driven into hermitage by the painful stings of others' fears.

His master would do _anything_ for Takeo, even give him a piece of his dwindling soul.

Fascinating, from a historical perspective. He'd known theoretically that this was the impetus behind the first contracts. First nobles taking a human's blood so they would know if the human was in trouble and could give them the strength to survive, then perhaps humans giving it since it was something their protectors seemed to want? And they wished to repay them somehow, even though it was not necessary.

A noble's soul was their life, just as much as a human's body.

Raizel needed to use up his lifeforce to heal himself, but he was unique. Even he used to be able to heal, he was almost recovered from the executions of a few clan leaders before he met Frankenstein. Then performing an Awakening and whatever sent him into hibernation for that many centuries, so close together? If Raizel wasn't the Noblesse, he would have remained in eternal sleep. Yet Raizel didn't want to escape true death; he wanted Frankenstein to be alright, even if it meant the destruction of his soul.

Frankenstein winced when he realized. Intellectually of course he'd already guessed, but to _know_?

Death was a fact of human existence, but not noble existence. Not until recently.

The grief of losing children one after the other killed _humans_.

"You died," Raizel confirmed, sadness in his red eyes at a memory that was not his own, scenes he or a previous Noblesse had seen in the minds of clan leaders. "You died, and took pieces of them with you."

Them, not us?

"I am the first Noblesse to make a Contract." Let a human feel that they were dying? It would make them sad. Yet after living together with him for ten years, Raizel could not refuse Frankenstein anything when he wanted it, knowing the consequences. "Urokai Agvain and Zarga Siriana were kept safe on Lukedonia, and then the Union insulated them." Left them thinking that humans were not worth loving. "They did not understand why Seira's parent died just for the hope the humans would be spared. Perhaps this is the other reason why the Lords knew that for the sake of nobles, humans must prosper and grow stronger."

"Did they not explain why?" Frankenstein demanded. "Not even to the Noblesse?"

Raizel shook his head. "Nobles must not abuse the weak. If there was another reason humans must not be abused, it was not necessary for the Noblesse to know this. The Previous Lord often attempted to explain his reasoning, but the other Lords had no way of making nobles understand their thoughts." Psychic powers couldn't show a chain of thought step-by-step: they conveyed snatches of memory, images and feelings, not reasoned arguments (not without words to send). And when the Lords were the only nobles to reason for so many millions of years? "They gave orders, as necessary for the welfare of the nobles, and those who disobeyed were harming the nobles."

"…and a suggestion from a reigning monarch is an order." No wonder the traitor clan leaders didn't seem to grasp that the Previous Lord's request for the clan leaders to join him in eternal sleep was a purely voluntary request, even if it _was_ a plan to secure the future of the nobles.

"If you outlive me," Raizel said, contemplating Takeo. He went silent, without words for what that would mean to him.

Not something so unprecedented. Because the humans nobles loved and protected? They _died_. If Raizel could keep them safe enough, could die knowing that they would be safe, would be able to take care of themselves? Had any noble _ever_ had that good fortune?

By the standards of nobles, Frankenstein was the first human to live long enough to _grow up_.

"You must live," Raizel said. "For nobles to survive, humans must also survive. You must be well, for us to be well."

He realized that, "Lukedonia _wasn't_ created only to protect humans." The two species were separated not just for human independence, but noble _survival?_ How many had they _lost_ , while humans quickly evolved to grow more effective at tugging noble heartstrings?

"It was necessary to protect nobles from the loss of our honor," when beings of soul needed integrity to survive, over long eons, "and the loss of you. Humans were the ones who must be protected. When humans are no longer ones who need to be protected…" Raizel lifted a hand, and then realized that if he moved to neaten Takeo's hair it might wake him.

His master did know that being messy didn't bother the others as much as it bothered Frankenstein, but it was something he could do for Takeo. Grasping the strands telekinetically for a mere second or two wasn't a great expenditure of power.

"You do not need to protect me," Raizel said, looking back up at Frankenstein when Takeo's hair was neatly tucked against his back, instead of some of it fallen over his front to be blown around by the air conditioning.

Frankenstein nodded, meeting Raizel's eyes squarely. "It is something I do of my own will."

His master nodded, utterly dignified and every bit as content, the slightest of smiles on his lips. "I accept your will."

If someone needed to be protected, then both Raizel and Frankenstein felt they had no choice. It was something that _must_ be done, no matter what either of them wanted. But to have someone _want_ to protect you?

Frankenstein wasn't a noble. Raizel was under no obligation to send those clan leaders away, or spend his life to Awaken Frankenstein so he could free himself from Dark Spear.

It was something Raizel chose to do, first because that was simply the kind of person he was, and second because he wanted to save Frankenstein. He chose to pay that price because Frankenstein mattered to him.

To _need_ to be protected was shameful weakness, in anyone but a child. It _stung_ , to know that someone else was suffering for your sake out of mere obligation. That was part of why Regis and Seira were so determined to grow up quickly, and why the three enhanced humans wanted power at almost any price.

They did not want Raizel and Frankenstein to _need_ to protect them, and Frankenstein understood. If something was done out of need or obligation, then it was not done by choice. That person would do only the minimum they felt they had to do.

No, more than that, they didn't want Raizel to die out of mere obligation to them. They wanted to be people Raizel and Frankenstein did not need to protect. Because that meant that when the two of them let the Union's throwaway lives remain under their roof, it was because they _wanted_ them here.

The way Raizel had wanted Frankenstein to _stay_ just as much as Frankenstein did when he let that drop fall into Raizel's tea. Telling himself it was a mere symbol, as though _giving blood to a noble_ could ever be just a symbol.

Unless human mental defenses became just that powerful, true. If human immortality became standard? Then a human could give a noble their blood and neither of them would have to be afraid. The human of having their soul violated. The noble of soul-shattering grief.

Frankenstein chuckled. "And I thought my existence was a threat or a challenge to the nobles. Well, I suppose it was. To the nobles I despised." To the ones who wanted humans to stay weak, who wanted power over humans despite the cost to the nobles, in precious lives and sacred honor.

To the Previous Lord, Frankenstein must have represented _hope_.

Raizel nodded, pleased that Frankenstein finally understood. There were a great number of things his master wanted him to understand because he thought 'Franken' would like them, and had no idea _how_. It was one more reason to be glad his master was able to take literature classes, and gain more familiarity with words. It was why he never pressed Raizel for answers unless he was starting to grow desperate, because Frankenstein wanting something when Raizel couldn't figure out how to give it to him upset his master and emotional turmoil didn't help _anyone_ with difficult engineering problems.

Thankfully, Raizel still had a traditional noble's sense of time, so he wasn't getting frustrated with himself for how long it was taking him to figure out how to convey those things. If it got to be more than a century, then Raizel might start to feel he was letting Frankenstein down, but Frankenstein was certain it wouldn't take Raizel anywhere near that long to get better at human communication, now that he was living in the human world, interacting with normal humans for several hours every day and attending classes that met Frankenstein's standards.

His master was not stupid, he thought fondly.

As he'd told Ragar so long ago, humans might be in trouble if nobles began to think… and at the time he hadn't known what a noble's mind was like. As a teacher, that kind of wasted potential irritated him.

Heh, Frankenstein thought, smirking. He supposed this was what drove Tao to screams of anguish when he got a look at the system specs of the laptop Frankenstein built for Master. Frankenstein had to be menacing at Tao to keep him from installing any more programs on it.

User interfaces were designed to be intuitive for _humans_. Not to mention that the simpler the programs on the laptop, the less likely Master was to break anything while trying to figure it out. He did not want Master to start thinking that he needed to not experiment with technology so he didn't break Frankenstein's things. That was why the window handle had been such a disaster.

Master, who had spent so long not _letting_ himself wonder about what might be seen beyond that window, had developed the spirit of experimentation to figure out how to sync his smartphone with the printer in the computer room thinking it might be used to 3-d print ramyeon! It was Ikhan who told him about it, knowing that the Chairman worried about how Rai was doing, and as an educator it was moments like these that made him realize, " _Damn, I'm good_."

Raizel looked down at Takeo again, where the enhanced human was curled against his side. Then up at Frankenstein. It didn't take their bond for Frankenstein to read the question in his eyes.

He smiled. "Of course, Master. As soon as I come home from running a little errand." Now that Rael had rejoined them and Karias was still waiting in the wings in case they were attacked or Rael misbehaved, he could finally make a trip he'd been planning since he obtained Crombel's data.

Master didn't believe him about the 'little errand' part of that for a _second_ , but his anticipation of Frankenstein's promise distracted him. Master did warn him that, "If the children begin talking about organizing search parties again, I will be forced to text you." Master hoped it wouldn't distract Frankenstein in battle, but Master was very disappointed in him for forgetting that there were children who would be worried when he spent so long secretly laughing at Dr. Aris and Yuri.

He smiled. "Of course, Master."


	10. While I'm Gone

_This chapter was beta'd, but I checked this after it posted and some spaces and words seem to have vanished from the document. I've fixed a few resulting errors, but please let me know if you spot anything I missed.  
_

* * *

"Ah, Rael," the human said only after opening the door to the home office where he'd given Rael a desk in the corner, facing the entrance.

"Yes, sir?" Rael asked, standing up cautiously and then inwardly snarling at himself. Composure! Keeping humans from affecting him was why he'd gone on that training trip! This might be a dangerous human, one even his father acknowledged, but he was Kertia and they didn't show they were intimidated.

Frankenstein's mask of a smile lost the worrying anticipation and grew _pointed_.

He didn't need to repeat the words: just looking at that expression Rael could hear him wondering, _again, 'A pureblood Kertia who can't hide behind a mask?'_

Also, Rael couldn't start going to school with Seira and start his real training there until he mastered this. The Noblesse's bonded had explained to him (slowly, using small words, with his foot on Rael's chest during their 'sparring' session on that island) that 'Chairman Lee' was supposed to be a harmless, soft human. If a noble pretending to be a young human seemed to be scared by him, other humans would notice, especially when those humans were trained to notice when children were upset and find out the reason.

He fixed the smile that was the human version of proper courtesies on his face, while nobles had more dignified expressions, and was relieved when Frankenstein gave him a nod of approval.

Then his teacher's expression grew dangerously pleased again.

Aargh!

"Well, now that a few last-minute matters have been dealt with, I'm off to assassinate Ignes and Roctis Kravei," Sir Raizel's Bonded said pleasantly, ignoring the fact that Rael's smile had gone frozen stiff for a full second. "Please do look after Master while I'm gone."

Frankenstein was leaving and Rael would be alone here with Sir Raizel and Miss Seira (…and those other annoying people, but they weren't anything he couldn't crush, and he'd welcome the opportunity to prove it).

…What was that about Ignes Kravei?

No. No, he didn't… there was no need to think about her. Not anymore.

Hearing her name had stripped the smile from his face, although he managed to say, "Thank you, sir," and bow properly.

He looked up to see Frankenstein examining him. Not dismissively, the way he had when they first met and Rael kept revealing his ignorance, or even critically. There was a definite threat of violence to it, but not directed at Rael? It was hard to figure out, especially when the expression vanished a moment later behind a harmless smile. "Miss Seira will be handling Master's meals, and she and Regis will be his attendants while he is at school and outside the house. You will see to his tea, and attend him while he is at home. While you are not attending Master, I want you to pick up my paperwork from the school, make copies of it, and fill the copies out to the best of your ability, based on the manuals I've given you to study."

"And the correspondence?"

"Continue doing what you've been doing."

Using the 'internet' to gather information – one of the duties of the Kertia – on whoever sent it, and anything in the letter he wasn't familiar with, and determine how urgent the correspondence was for 'Chairman Lee' to answer, the way he would have to sort priorities for his brother and on the battlefield. Yes, human affairs weren't important to the Kertia, but this was an exercise. If he wanted to prove Rajak could trust him to help with the clan while his brother trained to make up for the weakness of Kartas – and he did – then he had no choice.

"Or… hmm. You've been studying diligently alongside Master, I'm told." The Noblesse studied at night, when the humans and still-growing Regis had gone to bed and weren't there to disturb him. He had allowed Rael to sit in his presence, and nodded his approval when Rael opened one of the manuals on organization Frankenstein had assigned him, so Rael followed the Noblesse's example and read the things Frankenstein gave him.

The other humans might be asleep at those hours, but Frankenstein wasn't, and the enhanced human would leave him alone instead of finding something for him to do if he was attending the Noblesse. Obviously because that was a _far_ more important duty.

"I want you to start writing short summaries of the letters, e-mails and longer memos I'm sent, in under a hundred words, with the date and sender and other information that would tell your brother how urgent it is to deal with that report, and if he needs to read the full report himself. If, of course, your brother was trying to protect and advance the interests of Ye Ran instead of Lukedonia. An important part of managing intelligence is being able to sort through the deluge of information and find the hints of enemy activity and opportunities for action. I'll critique your work when I return, and once it's at an adequate level, I'll have Tao start giving you a selection of the information he's gathering on potential Union activity, so you can sharpen your analysis skills on that as well."

Not just using the school to pretend to manage the clan, but the real work of the Kertia?

Frankenstein nodded in approval to see Rael's eagerness. "Once we're both satisfied with the quality of your analysis skills, Miss Seira has been writing reports to Lukedonia and keeping Clan Leaders informed of what information she deems relevant. Sending the raw data together with your analyses for the attention of the Kertia Clan Leader would be a good way of showing your brother the progress you've made, don't you think?"

"Already?" the word slipped out. He was going to be allowed to start doing this now, even though he'd barely begun jumping through the hoops the human had taken great pleasure in laying out for him?

"Your combat training will be of assistance to your brother once you've learned enough for it to be worth his time to come here and train with you." Since Rael was exiled from Lukedonia temporarily. "Your stealth training will be of use once your combat skills have progressed enough for your brother to be willing to assign you Union infiltration missions. Intelligence-gathering and analysis skills can help your clan _now_. That's why I've focused on that part of your training, instead of drilling you in the proper courtesies so you don't embarrass yourself in front of Master, Miss Seira or Master's friends." His teacher (and Miss Seira's) smiled. "Of course, drilling you in the proper courtesies _can_ be combined with combat survival training, if you'd rather spend less time in this office with meaningless words and more time in my lab being patched up…"

* * *

Takeo was used to falling asleep in suboptimal positions from DA-5. Leaning against something warm, with the rest of him on a soft surface, didn't register as uncomfortable or unusual compared to helicopters, perches where he was being graded on his ability to not move, even in sleep, or mud.

It wasn't a tube or an unpadded lab table.

Someone touching him after his mind started rapidly waking up wasn't unusual either: very often, sensing the proximity of someone like Shark about to wake him was what woke Takeo up. Back then. Lesser scientists and lab techs taking readings, working on him while they thought he was asleep or didn't care whether or not he was.

A hand touching his shoulder, only to withdraw, without any order for him to wake up and get to work. The hand patted his shoulder again, without any sense of hurry or demand.

Takeo lifted his head and opened his eyes, and found that the thing he'd been resting his head on was Raizel's shoulder.

It was strange how strange it _didn't_ feel. He'd avoided getting too close to Raizel, or doing anything that could be viewed as a threatening move for a long time when he came to the house, because he'd gotten Frankenstein's very _pointed_ message that if Takeo so much as laid a finger on Raizel, Frankenstein was going to murder him. He'd gotten it loud and clear and very literally beaten into him. Stabbed. Stabbed into him.

Instead, Takeo found himself considering just going back to sleep, because this was comfortable. Not physically comfortable, not as much as his bed, but… like sitting on this couch, drinking tea in the afternoons.

No, Takeo thought, he shouldn't impose. Knowing Raizel, he was stuck here unmoving all night when Takeo slept, because nobles considered disturbing people rude and Raizel was Raizel. "Sorry," he said, smiling and sitting up. "I'll let you get changed." Into a slightly different school uniform.

It wasn't anywhere near dawn yet, but there was enough ambient light for Takeo's eyes (sniper's eyes – he knew the experiment type model number) to see Raizel clearly. Maybe his color vision wasn't as acute as it could be, especially since so many of the stray lights on kitchen equipment were one color or another, but except for his skin tone Raizel was more or less monochrome.

Except for his eyes.

They weren't reflective, like a cat's eyes – Takeo's eyes _did_ have a reflective mode, but he kept it off most of the time because of the risk it would give him away. Either his position, or the fact he was a modified human.

The Noblesse's eyes were glowing softly, and Takeo frowned, worried. He hoped that Raizel wasn't spending energy to do that.

Seeing Takeo looking at him, Raizel blinked and his eyes went back to normal.

Takeo hoped Raizel didn't think the glowing eyes had frightened him.

Then he realized that the room was much darker than he'd thought without that red light, as his eyes started to refocus into heat vision mode. He shook his head, refocusing on the small glints of red he could make out in the dim light: focusing on red colors was the best way to tell his brain that he wanted to be seeing _red_ , not infrared.

He could still make out that Raizel was looking at him, and now Raizel's eyes were reflecting the light.

Mimicking Takeo's own?

It made Takeo's breath catch in his throat, but whatever he was feeling wasn't fear.

He knew that nobles were shapeshifters, the way he knew that they could drink people's blood and create vampires, but as a rule they didn't. All the nobles he'd met were very particular about their appearances and didn't change their look often. Raizel always wore Ye Ran's uniform – Takeo had never seen him wear anything else, except that time when he was wearing black clothing, which given what the clan leaders were wearing was probably his uniform when he lived on Lukedonia.

Frankenstein changed what outfit he wore daily, like normal people did. At least, he used to: these days, he was more often in a lab coat or a particular black formal suit of a design that seemed to have some history for him.

Most of the nobles always looked the same, down to wearing the same thing. Well, except for when Tao had dragged Regis out of his room wearing pajamas with stars on them once, and Regis had worn that bandana to disguise himself (badly, especially if nobles didn't have many children so there really couldn't be many people on Lukedonia Regis' height) and Tao was able to get him to wear the RK mask.

Tao had his own style.

Nobles just seemed to be very definite about how they wanted to look. They could look like anything, and instead they wanted to look exactly the same every day? There had to be a reason for it. Sometimes their eyes would glow – Takeo had seen a flash of bared fangs when Rael lost his temper – but for Raizel to just… so casually change to look more like Takeo? Mimic a capability _normal_ humans didn't have, trying to make Takeo more comfortable?

Raizel probably had no idea why Takeo was staring at him and went with 'my actions are my actions and nothing to do with you (so there is no need to take it personally, or to feel responsible).'

Frankenstein's response to Takeo telling him that after he killed Frankenstein Raizel was next? It was starting to feel entirely understandable under the circumstances.

Takeo wondered if that should worry him. Being able to think like the archetypical mad scientist shouldn't be a good sign. Much less an improvement.

Better than thinking like the Union.

Takeo smiling to himself seemed to have reassured Raizel.

…Or maybe not, when the noble got up? Takeo didn't watch him go, he was probably just going to his room to change without mentioning that Takeo had trapped him there all night, keeping Raizel from studying, or…

Oh. Takeo relaxed when he heard the coffee machine. Maybe it was still early enough for Raizel to study. For all Takeo knew, the noble had a test today.

Raizel came back with a cup and saucer, but instead of sitting down in his usual seat at the head of the table, he sat down again next to Takeo.

And put the coffee in front of the enhanced human who had taken up so much of his time using him as a pillow?

"Frankenstein is not home," Raizel said, looking dignified when Takeo glanced at him. "He is free to relive the old days, so I will make the tea and coffee." He paused, as Takeo remembered how Raizel had gotten up to get his own tea while Frankenstein was playing around with Dr. Aris. "There is no need to tell him. It would disturb him."

…Now Takeo was right back to not understanding Frankenstein. Wasn't Frankenstein the one who put the note on the coffee machine to be sure Raizel would know how to use it, if he wanted something warm to fill his teacup while Frankenstein was out of the house?

Without looking at Takeo, Raizel said, "He does the small things for me both because it is his will and because he is unable to do many of the greater things for me."

Like execute clan leaders. Like save Tao and Takeo so Raizel didn't have to awaken them. So…

Oh. Yes. Takeo did understand why Frankenstein would get upset over Raizel having to get his own tea.

It wasn't about the tea.

He realized that Raizel didn't like being waited on. The Noblesse was still learning about modern technology and conventions, but he had Ikhan and Yuna in his group of friends. Even if it took him awhile to figure out how to do some things, no one would like being treated like they were incapable of taking care of themselves. Even if Raizel was sick.

Dying.

But Raizel couldn't give any indication that it bothered him when it was something Frankenstein did to make himself feel better, Takeo realized. Frankenstein's master wanted him to feel better, even just be _distracted_ , more than he cared about his pride.

"Before I met Frankenstein, he made a great amount of noise in the human world. The humans were after his labs and his research, and he had to destroy his things, destroy his homes to keep the Union from getting them and using them to harm humans. Frankenstein is very particular about his things," Raizel said, still not looking at Takeo.

Takeo had seen how Frankenstein reacted to the damage to Ye Ran that happened when Yonsu punched M-21 through a wall.

"It bothers him more when his things are broken because of how often it happened when he was young."

"And the reason," Takeo realized. Any reminder of the Union was going to bother _any_ of the enhanced humans in the house, and Frankenstein had Dark Spear.

Raizel nodded. "Before he came to my home, he was alone. The Union took anyone who knew him."

Takeo thought of the people Shark killed on Krans' orders. That was just to… those civilians didn't even know anything that could possibly endanger the Union's secrets! There were plenty of black ops groups out there, and Tao had researched how DA-5 could pass for one of them; it was a Union assignment to ensure their own secrecy!

The people Takeo saved knew _nothing_ of _any_ value or threat to the Union!

…so how many more people would the Union have killed for a snowball's chance in hell of getting even a _page_ of Frankenstein's notes?

What would that have done, to the Frankenstein Takeo knew now? For everyone who, forget knew anything about him, anyone who _came in contact with him_ to be taken unless he wiped their memories the way the nobles did these days for the same reason?

A scientist wouldn't have cared. When Takeo came to this house, he thought Frankenstein only cared about his master, perhaps because of mind control or strange noble reasons, and that was it. It couldn't be anything more than that. He couldn't be a caring person. He couldn't be the kind of person Takeo wanted to be, if only the Union had permitted it.

Raizel's hands were neatly folded in his lap, in lieu of a teacup to hold. He spoke quietly in the darkness. "For a human, the time Frankenstein spent alone felt much, much longer than the time I spent alone."

When Frankenstein took pity on Raizel for his solitude… was that why it affected him so much? Because of how much _he_ was suffering, because he couldn't afford to be anything but alone. Or the Union would make those innocent people pay the price.

"When he came to Lukedonia, he did not care for nobles. He had no reason to worry that Ragar and Gejutel might be taken by the Union to use against him. They were nobles, and he despised nobles. They were not his friends, so he could be friends with them. Lukedonia was somewhere he could stay with people without endangering anyone."

Raizel wasn't looking at Takeo as he said this. He had grown more likely to speak over the past few months, maybe because of the children's influence, or growing more confident with them. For all Takeo knew, Raizel could be a chatterbox over his link with Frankenstein, or when the two of them were alone.

He was saying this, and it had to be for Takeo's ears, but he wasn't saying it _at_ Takeo.

For humans, it was rude to talk as though people weren't there. It was acting like they were furniture. Things. Union experiments. But Raizel wasn't like that, and Takeo knew that nobles had their own ways of being courteous, just like different human cultures.

Maybe Raizel was acting as though he was saying this to himself because it was rude to say things about Frankenstein to someone else when he wasn't here? No, something about this was reminding Takeo of Miss Seira. Not Regis, but Regis was still technically a child and painfully straightforward for a noble.

"Urokai Agvain caused Frankenstein to lose his composure by showing him the necklace of a child Frankenstein taught. That person was the last time he'd dared care for someone. Except Dark Spear," Raizel acknowledged. "He could not abandon them."

And in exchange for that kindness they tortured him, but Takeo didn't think they could help it. Raizel wouldn't just let someone hurt Frankenstein, and neither of them seemed to hate or resent Dark Spear, only its creation…

Takeo remembered some of what Frankenstein had said about Dark Spear, to the Union Elders, and wondered just how much of it was joking. No, he thought, grimacing, he really didn't want to know.

"It is not good for a human to be alone. Caring for others helps him." Raizel paused. "I do not recommend distracting him by saying you want more sugar until you can remove the excess." The red eyes closed for a moment as Raizel let out a little sigh. "He keeps adjusting the sugar to what he thinks is my taste."

Takeo blinked, and in hindsight it was blindingly obvious that the majority of the requests that could be taken as orders (and were) he'd seen Raizel give Frankenstein were distractions. When Raizel was psychic, and could tell that something was bothering Frankenstein?

Why was Raizel telling Takeo a strategy he was obviously going to some trouble to keep secret from Frankenstein? Takeo would try, but he was certain that if Frankenstein wanted to get information out of him, he'd break Takeo like a building. Why was Raizel telling him all this? No, he wasn't _telling_ Takeo it, not exactly. It was something he wanted Takeo to hear, to know about…

How to take care of Frankenstein.

What bothered him, and why. Things to try when something was running through his mind.

Like the memory of Raizel's death.

Raizel wouldn't tell Takeo ' _don't let him be alone_.' Wouldn't ask that of him, when that might mean that Takeo would see it as something he _had_ to do, when Raizel and Frankenstein didn't want to be repaid for taking in any of them.

Frankenstein's master wanted Takeo, wanted _someone_ to look after Frankenstein when Raizel was gone. To save him from being alone, the way Frankenstein had… Frankenstein and Raizel had saved each other, hadn't they?

"I understand," Takeo said, quietly. "I don't want him to be alone either." So this was something he _wanted_ , something he would do of his own will. Raizel didn't have to worry that Takeo was taking it as an order or obligation.

The Noblesse turned to him, although his eyes were downcast and solemn. "Frankenstein… he worries me." He looked to the side. "The proper courtesies among humans say that I should say thank you, but that would imply that you did this for gratitude." And he did not wish to insult Takeo that way. "I appreciate that you care for him," was what Raizel said instead. "Humans used to fall asleep in the presence of nobles, trusting that we would protect them. If it is your wish to do that again, it would be…" Raizel paused.

Takeo smiled, but it was a little sad. "It's okay to want things. We also want to give you what you wish for."

"Umm… Hmm…" Raizel turned away, and Takeo's eyes could make out a blush even in this dim light, darkening as he watched. "Umm…" Faint little sounds, almost more hums than even attempts at words.

It looked as though he broke the noble, but in a good way. Takeo smiled and said, "Let me get you some coffee," to give Raizel a little room to compose himself. The Noblesse almost seemed naked without his cup of tea.

When he returned to the couch, Raizel said quietly, "No one but Frankenstein has ever wanted to grant my wishes before."

"The Union made sure that what I wanted never mattered. Then I came here, and M-21 asked if we could stay. I know that you're afraid you can't protect this place and make it one where we can have the peaceful lives we want anymore, but the fact that you care so much about even… those like us having the chance to find our own happiness… Of course we wish the same for you."

Raizel's near-suppressed blush deepened again, and he picked up his teacup with a motion that was almost _hurried_.

The most powerful being on the planet for who knew how many thousands of years, but instead of being harsh and cruel he was so cute and kind. It made Takeo smile to himself, glad to see it not only because he was glad he'd made Raizel happy, but also because the Union was so very, very wrong.

Maybe that was what would bring it down, in the end.

* * *

Eventually Raizel went up, and spent some time picking out his school uniform for the day. They looked like Ye Ran's standard, mass-produced uniforms to the untrained eye, but Takeo's vision could pick out the variety of fabrics, all of them extremely high-quality, and the small variations in cut and stitching.

A little after everyone had come down for breakfast, Raizel paused, frowned, and finally let out a little sigh. When he looked up again, seeing their questioning looks, he said, "Frankenstein opened our bond and flooded my mind with maniacal laughter."

They all stared, partially because yes, that sounded like something he would do.

"He worries me," Raizel said with fondness as much as concern, and drank his tea.


	11. Have Fun Storming The Base

_What delayed this chapter was that I like 'Third Person Limited' perspective, getting inside a character's head. That creates a problem when you need to write the dialogue of other characters and your POV character doesn't_ care _what they have to say, they think those people need to shut up and die. I've had several chapters after this one drafted for awhile, but I couldn't post them until this chapter was posted, and to do that I needed the Fifth Elder and Kentas' dialogue._

 _Ugh, getting that written was like pulling teeth._

 _Having fun with worldbuilding/backstory. Also how people's information is skewed by their sources: Gejutel is oblivious as heck, and he was the only source Frankenstein had on quite a lot of stuff, since Raizel can't reveal information he only has because he's the Noblesse. Trying to figure out what happened tens of thousands of years ago based on the imperfect memory of someone with zero political/sociological understanding whatsoever is going to result in anyone being off-base.  
_

 _How the Toba Catastrophe_ really _went down will be important whenever the webtoon covers enough that I have Tradio and Maduke details to work in. The werewolves are still pissed, and it ties into why they as a culture refuse to see humans as people._

 _Know how the earth shakes despite a power-dampening castle when Raskreia gets mad? This was Nightmare Fuel Unleaded, not anger, but under the circumstances, Suddenly, Supervolcano was still getting off lightly._

* * *

That aura!

Roctis sat there frozen, focused on what he sensed from deeper within the complex.

It couldn't, it couldn't be Cadis Etrama di Raizel!

And if his power was sealed well enough for him to make it to this island without Roctis sensing him, then he would only have released those seals to, to… "Ignes!" he screamed, and surged forward, heedless of the walls and floors between him and his daughter's lab.

Even as he moved, he felt that aura heading back up, and turned to follow. Was his daughter already fleeing instead of trying to fight the Noblesse? That would let him buy her more time without having to stop to tell her to run.

When he reached the surface, the camouflage of a peaceful island that concealed the horrors beneath, the aura vanished.

It was only when he began to turn, scanning the trees, that he realized how familiar they were.

For all he tried to tell himself he'd abandoned the nobles, he'd still chosen an island, with plants and a climate not very different from Lukedonia's. The pine forests that wouldn't have thrived so well at that latitude if the Lord's Authority did not override mere nature.

Such as tropical climates. The bond between parent and child.

But Roctis Kravei had abandoned all right to speak of right and wrong, hadn't he?

He would have thought that perhaps he had merely 'dreamed' of the Noblesse's presence. Perhaps he had changed himself so much, abandoned his honor and nature as a noble enough to become capable of falling asleep under so much strain and fear, except behind him and to the right – a position that would have been exactly behind him when he came up, before he began to turn – that aura flared into existence.

Close to what he remembered, but far too… was Cadis Etrama di Raizel really _that_ weak, after what they did to him?

Shame tightened in his chest, but it meant his daughter had a chance to live.

"Standing there, with your back to the enemy? It's like you're just begging for someone to put you out of your misery. The way Zarga Siriana was."

Roctis' eyes widened as he turned.

"Taunting a child with the fact he took her family from her. His subconscious hoped her rage and will to survive would call out the full power of the Loyard soul weapon – when he'd added her parent's soul to that weapon. If he wanted to go to eternal sleep so much, he should have done it himself. So, I'm offering you the opportunity," said the Noblesse's contractor.

To mock him, surely. Roctis couldn't send himself to eternal sleep. Not now. Regaining his honor wouldn't be that easy.

"Frankenstein?" Not Cadis Etrama di Raizel. There was still a chance Ignes was alive. "We thought you were dead!"

Frankenstein might have been able to hide from the Union in the past, but that was before he made a contract with the Noblesse. They should have been able to sense the fragment of the Noblesse's soul within him… but Frankenstein had trained with Ragar Kertia, and Ragar said that Frankenstein was helpful in refining the family's _stealth_ techniques. Their ability to hide from noble perceptions and attack quickly enough their opponent couldn't sense them in time to block. The Kertia and Landegre might have seemed like opposites, but both their family styles hinged on keeping the enemy from avoiding or blocking their attacks, the Kertia with stealth and confusion and the Landegre with enough raw force to push through a block and mind control to keep the opponent from dodging.

Of course the human hadn't been helping Ragar study how to hide a noble's aura for Ragar's benefit alone!

"Thinking? I doubt that," the human said, black-purple flowing out from his palms, encasing his hands and forearms in cursed darkness.

"Your weapon still consumes you so easily without _his_ help." Did that mean the Noblesse was here, ready to spend his life to save this human a second time?

"My weapon isn't even summoned at the moment," Frankenstein said, raising one of those hands to examine the claws. "This is what hosting that crazy thing does to my aura. Dark Spear is normally in such a terrible mood, you see. It's understandable. I've had to keep them locked up, and it's been so long and they haven't had their revenge. Today they got to meet someone they haven't seen in _such_ a long time." The human threw him the kind of sharp grin he'd given Urokai as he feigned weakness and invited Urokai to kill him in order to take advantage of their 'spar' to drive that spear into the noble's brain.

The young noble.

Ignes… "Impossible." She couldn't be dead, he would have felt her soul join Cetus! "Where is my daughter?"

"Well, she wanted a soul weapon so much, so I gave her one. Or, you might say… I gave her _to_ one."

Cadis Etrama di Raizel would never smile like that. Not even, especially not, to see justice done. He was too kind a soul.

That smile was too cruel, just like it would be too cruel for Ignes to die before he had even _noticed_ there was a battle underway! It had to be a lie. Provoking him, Ragar and Gejutel said that was his tactic. Roctis had to keep it together, or he would die and be unable to protect Ignes. "What have you done to my daughter?"

"Oh, you want to know exactly what happened to her?" Frankenstein chuckled, and threw his head back and laughed. "Yes… Why not?" he wondered, eyes glowing a manic blue. "Answer my call," he said, reaching up to the heavens.

Blue? This wasn't the power Roctis had sensed from him before. It wasn't even Cadis Etrama di Raizel's power. How much had Frankenstein enhanced himself, with centuries to work with while his master slumbered? How strong had he become, to kill the ones who took away that which was as precious to him as Ignes was to Roctis?

Had he abandoned humanity as Roctis had the nobles?

"It seems that Ignes goes through her captives so quickly that there are only a handful of people in this base, none of them both innocent and… unprocessed. You've gone and challenged us in an area without any civilians." The Bonded of the True Noblesse, the one who had experimented on noble criminals and joined his soul with their executioner tut-tutted at Roctis Kravei, as though he, not Ignes, was the misbehaving child.

The angle of his arm tilted, no longer reaching up to provide a target but reaching towards Roctis as if he was offering something. "Dark Spear."

Agony piercing through his gut, that was more what he'd expected.

* * *

"Have fun," Frankenstein said cheerfully, and turned to walk away, dusting the residual darkness from his arms as a thundercloud erupted behind him, black-purple lighting spiraling around Roctis Kravei. And growing. And growing.

"Now, to loot the base," he said, rubbing his hands together, and didn't notice that his laugh of delight was more of a giggle.

" _Frankenstein,"_ came his Master's patient tone because really, again?

Frankenstein waved off his concern, sky-blue aura stripping away the ground covering to reveal a tunnel. A flick of the wrist tore the roof off. "And roll for encounters," he said, feeling the blast of pressure on his back as a blood-red leviathan warred with a legion of vengeful spirits, and grinning with the sheer joy of knowing that justice was being done and nothing hurt… "I do hope the Ninth Elder is in." From the additional intelligence Tao was using Crombel and Yuri's codes to dig up from the Union's systems he should be, but he wasn't going to count his Elders before they croaked, he thought, and this time did vaguely realize he was giggling and couldn't bring himself to care even with an audience.

" _Frankenstein!_ "

He staggered and finally realized. " _Yes, thank you Master_." Slamming the link shut, he winced, absently waving off any possible assistance. "Adjust the ratios of the body's natural painkillers back to normal and _then_ loot the base." For goodness' sake, he'd been high as a kite. What an embarrassing oversight. It wasn't as though he was allowed to forget the adjustments he needed to think despite Dark Spear's agony, and he should have known what would happen the instant that pain was no longer there to kill.

Dropping down into the base, he restrained the urge to muse aloud, 'If I was a computer room, where would I be…' or start humming, even if he was mostly certain he'd cleaned up the neurochemical aftereffects and it was just a _beautiful day._

Ignes and Roctis Kravei were in forced eternal nightmare… or would be. Eventually. Ignes' victims had tried to draw out her punishment and now that of the noble who covered for her, but with so many selves to restrain, it wasn't really Dark Spear's fault it had no self-restraint. In any case, the Kravei wouldn't be harming the innocent ever again, so Master would not be forced to spend himself to sentence them.

He wanted to learn about the enhancement technology Roctis' faction possessed, but even that was a secondary priority. He'd done what he came here to do, kept his promises to Dark Spear, and everything else was just icing on the cake.

Hmm, icing recipes. Master had no idea which date the Previous Lord had selected as Master's birthday, but if the Previous Lord could choose a birthday for him, then Frankenstein certainly had the right…

He couldn't resist a casual, "Oh, what have we here?"

"One of the intruders?" the white-robed old man flanked by two organic-looking robots – or more likely, robotic-looking organics – asked. He gave a grandfatherly, approving laugh. "How good of the Second or Third to have the data deliver itself..."

"Oh no," Frankenstein said, deadpan. "A Union Elder. And me without my soul weapon." Tsk tsk. How careless of him. "Whatever shall I do?" he wondered, and let his eyes glow blue. No, even the obvious hint didn't make the Ninth Elder realize what was going on. They really did keep their human slaves so ignorant, even the scientists! Disgusting, but he shouldn't complain when it made it easier to kill the bastards.

"A soul weapon? You must be a clan leader. Kertia, leaving your power behind to sneak into our base?"

Frankenstein hid a laugh behind his hand, knowing it wasn't as scary as he usually preferred, because wow. They really knew nothing, did they?

The Ninth Elder thought the Kertia clan leader had come, hmm? Even a stopped clock…

"I'll have to thank you for coming here. Now I'll be able to test out these anti-clan leader weapons." The elder waved one forward.

One, really? Only one?

 _Hilarious._ This was why he hadn't been able to resist going along with it when Yuri kidnapped him, because really? Just… really? _Wow._

"Your corpse will be of great use to the Union."

He laughed, making sure the sound came from the illusion. "You don't even know that much? No, of course you don't."

The man's eyes narrowed, looking at where he _thought_ Frankenstein was standing as Frankenstein let his aura spread. Well, _finally_. "Nobles don't use energy that way… Werewolf?"

 _Obviously_ not. Although in fairness, for all Frankenstein knew the Union was making werewolves psychic now. It wasn't as though Crombel knew anything useful about high-level abilities when they hadn't even told him the difference between nobles and vampires.

"No… Human?" Old-looking eyes widened and this incompetent who couldn't even figure out one of the twenty different ways to repair or ward off the genetic damage called aging actually _grinned_ at Frankenstein. For goodness sake, did the Union just not care how much brain damage their mindwipe chemicals did? "What a wonderful experimental subject."

Frankenstein blinked. Really. And he was _trying_ not to laugh too much, in case he lost control and broadcast to Master again. Or embarrassed himself in front of the one member of the audience who was going to survive beyond the next five minutes. Also, he was standing right beside the Ninth Elder and didn't want to give away his position until he was done mind-controlling the second anti-clan leader weapon. But who could blame him? This was too funny not to share. "You, experiment on me? That is the most hilarious thing I have ever heard."

Especially since it seemed Roctis and Ignes Kravei hadn't allowed their pet Elder to enhance his mental defenses. Of course not, when that type of experiment would have given him some defense against _them_ controlling him.

Or his victims.

* * *

Holding on to the Ninth Elder by the one spider leg ( _spider_ legs!) he hadn't snapped off, Frankenstein dragged him across the paneled floor until he reached the hole, and leaped up through it. He shaded his eyes, judging the torrential darkness of Dark Spear's current manifestation and feigning ignorance of the two life signs approaching behind him – above-ground, not in the shielded complex.

Life signs, but no psychic signatures.

So they _had_ timed it perfectly. None of the Union officials the Kertia managed as sources had access to the deliberations of the Elders – it was too dangerous – but with Crombel dead, and knowing that the Noblesse had returned, the elders had been investigating their scientists, looking for anyone who could replace Crombel.

Ignes Kravei was the Ninth Elder's apprentice – or more likely the other way around – and should have become the Tenth Elder, if not the Ninth. She was an _obvious_ choice not just if the Union wanted a second scientist (not that the Ninth Elder had been any kind of _scientist)_ , but to restore their stock of Elders. She knew the workings of the Union and was raised to rule… not that the Union cared about having competent administrators among its Elders.

According to Crombel's memories, the only reason she hadn't made Elder when she and the Ninth Elder revealed their creation of the Eighth Elder was that Roctis had vetoed the motion.

Then one of the disposable soldiers the Union viewed as little better than furniture was allowed to overhear the Fifth Elder's servant complaining about 'Lunark' being sent to go behind Roctis' back to offer the position to Ignes like she was some errand girl. A werewolf having to go to a noble in supplication? That kind of scutwork was what humans were for.

That was weeks ago, so Frankenstein had honestly thought he'd missed the window. Was the Fifth Elder here to make the request a second time, or had the werewolves dragged their heels for the sake of their dignity?

At this point, it didn't matter. What did matter was that he had two more targets to eliminate.

He'd forgotten what it was like to not have Dark Spear attacking and trying to overwhelm his senses, back in the old days when he didn't have a soul weapon and needed to know what was coming and from where in time to ensure the odds were rigged in his favor. Everything was so _clear_. It was pleasantly nostalgic to get to dust off the techniques he'd used before Dark Spear not only imposed a time limit on his battles but kept _distracting_ him, with pain and words, enough to limit his ability to strategize. Perfectionist that he was, he _loathed_ having to gamble that he could provoke an opponent into making a big enough mistake for him to kill them before Frankenstein… forget before Dark Spear devoured him, before he had to focus so much of his attention on fighting off Dark Spear that he might miss the crucial opening!

He was fortunate his fights with Ragar and Gejutel let him develop new techniques that would hopefully let him survive using Dark Spear, but he didn't have to like being so damn sloppy. It annoyed him: fortunately, if he was using those techniques, there was obviously someone there to take it out on. Not today, however.

If ever there was a time to win on planning and precision instead of raw power this was it, when he was standing on top of a Union base he still needed to search for valuable information. If only buildings weren't so fragile.

"Hello," he said pleasantly as he turned, casually tossing the whimpering and babbling for mercy Ninth Elder behind him into the hungry abyss. "If it isn't the Fifth Elder. And another Union-aligned werewolf."

"Frankenstein."

Oh? No reaction to the eternal damnation of her fellow Elder? Well, the Ninth Elder was only a human, and in all fairness she might not have recognized him, what with all the blood. Nor had Frankenstein given her enough time to get a good look. Frankenstein hadn't wanted to risk denying Dark Spear such a treat, the heir of the kind of scum who turned them into this, just to tease a werewolf. It wouldn't have been possible for her to recover her fellow Elder (if she had any fellow feeling for him at all) even if she'd charged into Dark Spear right away. Not when the Kravei had made sure that their servant's mind was so easy to control for their own benefit. Frankenstein doubted it would take Dark Spear five seconds to consume the Ninth Elder's soul. Not after Frankenstein softened him up by destroying his faith in that self, and with it his will to defend it.

"Just when I think this day can't get any better, a third Union Elder is dropped into our laps." He smiled pleasantly. "After you, only three more to go. Of course, there's still the three remaining traitor nobles, and of course the other Union-aligned werewolves like this scum you've brought with you, but I think we've made some good progress today, don't you?"

A muffled explosion came from the tunnels beneath him. "Excuse me," he said, "I have a base to loot."

"You think we're just going to let you steal Union data?" the male – Kentas – asked.

"I don't expect you to let me do anything. I expect you to either run away with your tails between your legs, or do the entire planet a favor and die. I don't have a preference," he lied. "What Roctis has been up to is my Master's business, so I'd rather not waste my time putting you two to sleep. But what I really don't have time for is waiting for you two to make up your minds."

Calculation flashed behind the Fifth Elder's eyes, but she mainly seemed nonplussed.

"Oh, you were expecting a berserker eager to give you the fight you want? That would be Dark Spear. You're free to go fence with the sea of them, if you wish. I'm sure they'll be happy to play with you." Quite deliberately, he turned his back on them.

The petty, irritated roar as she charged after him had a different tone once she smacked into the shield that suddenly appeared in front of her. As she twisted to swipe at it, the other anti-clan leader weapon's beam pierced through the ground beneath her.

A moment later he had them burst through the ground. Yes, ambushing from cover was a better tactic, but he couldn't have her taking random swipes at the ground trying to play whack-a-mole with the poor things. She'd destroy the base and with it his valuable intel on what at least _one_ Union faction had been working on all this time. The one most likely to fear that his Master's sleep wasn't eternal and research how to counter a Noblesse. Dr. Aris' focus on using up human lifeforce, when Dr. Aris was a servant of the Twelfth Elder, who served Roctis, was evidence they were examining the Noblesse's powers with an eye to replicate as well as counter.

The Fifth Elder jumped back, looking at the two intruders into 'her' fight. As though this was some kind of game. As though someone who just stood back and enjoyed the destruction of much of downtown could claim to follow any kind of warrior's code. Whining about a fair fight when all she cared about was having fun while humans _died_ , because while the fight raged on the KSA couldn't let paramedics and rescue teams in to search the rubble?

He glared at her disgustedly, then turned to look at the poor things. "They've already avenged themselves on one of their creators, but I think they deserve to take more revenge on one of the people who did this to them before their bodies fall apart."

"So the Ninth Elder _was_ concealing experiments from the Union."

He laughed. "Of course that's what you care about, not how you Union scum kidnapped humans in job lots and tortured them into machines to serve you."

"The Ninth Elder did that? Humans are disgusting creatures."

Frankenstein laughed. "Oh," he said, voice dripping with contempt. "You think this has nothing to do with you."

"Of course it doesn't: the Elders operate independently. I'm not even modified, so no, I don't have anything to do with the disgusting things humans do for power."

"The Ninth Elder was quite literally a pawn of the Union - Dark Spear devoured him so easily because his soul was weak, and who do you think weakened it? You are a Union Elder with a voice and a vote. Unlike most of the _humans_ you blame for their own violation, you chose to join the Union. The Union's crimes are your crimes. Their blood is on your claws. If you want to claim you aren't benefitting from the Union's crimes, then why are the werewolves in the Union? You have to be getting something out of it."

"I don't need-"

"Of course you're not enhanced – you're the werewolf that meets most often with the rest of the Union, your Lord doesn't want to reveal what he's begun to turn your species into. He doesn't want to put his cards on the table before he can stab Tradio in the back. How you've remained unenhanced is not virtue: it's _treachery._ "

"How dare you accuse the Lord of something like that!" Kentas demanded, and the Fifth Elder raised her hand.

"Stay out of this, this is my fight."

Frankenstein chuckled. "Oh, stop pretending you're an honorable warrior when you have killed hundreds of thousands of innocent people. When you have violated the souls of thousands of cubs. If you don't care about human and noble suffering then consider this: You've supported an organization that _ripped the heart out of the chest of a member of your family,_ a fellow werewolf,and stuck it inside an innocent person – and why? No reason, the Elder _your_ Union manufactured wasn't even expecting anything to come of killing a werewolf every bit as casually as he would kill a human!"

Her eyes widened. "You lie!"

"I could show you the cub Master and I rescued and protected from _your people_ , since _you_ have persisted in trying to murder him, the way _you_ ripped out the heart that now lies within his chest… But I know better than to let Union scum like you anywhere near innocent children." He bared his teeth at her, a smile that would have sent Dark Spear crackling around him if they weren't happily occupied a few hundred meters away. "Why so shocked? You knew that the Union was killing people and had no regard for life. You're one of the ones who voted to keep it that way. Why are you surprised that the werewolves are reaping what you sowed?"

"Who? Who did it? No, even the Ninth Elder wouldn't dare."

"Wouldn't dare what? Hurt a werewolf? Why would they balk at doing to you what you did to them? Future generations of werewolves will shudder at your name and ask themselves how a werewolf like them could possibly have become a monster like you. Well. They will if there _are_ any future generations of werewolves, because _your_ crimes have given the two other species on this planet every reason to loathe you for what you have done to _our_ children for tens of thousands of years." The unexpurgated version of werewolf history he'd gotten out of Gejutel… no wonder the Landegre fighting style was designed to kill werewolves. "Taking over our cities. Killing any who defied you. Breeding us like animals. We begged you to stop, the nobles told you to stop, your own Lord Muzaka ordered you to stop, and _you_ refused to act like decent people instead of monsters."

It was a problem. Eventually all of this was going to be revealed to the world, and the werewolves always lost whenever they came in conflict with the nobles for good reasons. Those reasons would also apply to a conflict between werewolves and an enhanced humanity. They just wouldn't have the numbers or discipline to win. And if they did have the numbers to prolong the conflict and kill more humans in the process, then _how_ they got those numbers and whatever they did to make the crossbreeds obedient would just strengthen the desire for humanity to wipe the werewolves out once and for all.

That was why the Fifth Elder would have been Frankenstein's next target after Roctis in any case, and why he wanted the Second Elder dead before the First and Third.

If the nobles and werewolves who joined the Union were safely dead by the time the world found out what was going on, then it would be a war of humanity against traitors to its own species. Or humanity against the concept of the 'superior' humanity the Union espoused.

Yes, some werewolves were monsters, but the same could certainly be said of humanity. No one could call Muzaka a monster, or claim he'd seen Ashleen as cannon fodder to throw at the nobles.

More than that, humanity's honor mattered. He might not be a Noblesse, but he was still going to do his damndest to keep his species from being guilty of genocide.

Again, true.

"Muzaka was a traitor to the werewolves, a noble quisling, not someone we were bound to obey."

"So, he betrayed the werewolves… by saving you from being slaughtered? How dare you. How dare you compare the annoyance of the werewolves at not being allowed to treat humans like animals to the suffering of the humans you killed because that was more _convenient_ than issuing a formal challenge to the clan leaders."

"That was the Eighth Elder!"

"The Eighth Elder. A human, yes, but a human brainwashed and enslaved by _your_ Union."

His fingers clenched into fists: even without Dark Spear's influence, _he wanted them dead_.

These werewolves were obviously young and stupid, very likely young enough that they hadn't been allowed in combat before the Previous Lord went into Eternal Sleep. Since he doubted their families had the gall and/or sense to ask the traitor clan leaders for a demonstration, that made it very likely they'd never in their entire lives faced off against an opponent who used mind control in combat.

Werewolf regeneration ideally let them survive attacks long enough for their bodies to evolve a response to that threat. All werewolves probably had some evolved defenses against mind control, but that was like saying all humans had some evolved defenses against smallpox – they still were much more vulnerable without prior exposure.

He hadn't had the luxury of testing that theory about the Fifth Elder during their last battle. He'd needed his mental abilities and defenses focused on Dark Spear and the threat of two clan leaders.

The Fifth Elder and her companion were clan leader-level werewolves, and him without a soul weapon. He did have these two anti-clan leader weapons, but they ran on their lifeforce and weren't going to win a battle of attrition with werewolves.

So he needed to take the Fifth Elder and her lackey out with one blow, before they could render his mind control ineffective and eliminate his poor allies.

Time to borrow a page from the Landegre's book.

The time he spent _talking_ to these contemptible Union scum had _better_ have paid off. Monologuing was a weakness, which was why he'd done it himself while he was training 'RK-04,' hoping they'd invent the tactic of playing dead long enough for him to present that opening so they could seize it.

It seemed to have had the desired result in this case: the werewolves' attention was focused on him, and just like the Fifth Elder in their last battle, the new one didn't seem to have the sense to avoid looking into his eyes.

"People like you, who blame the weak for the horrors you inflict on them…" he said slowly, flashing a hand signal he'd learned from Ragar behind his back to tell Rajak to get clear _._

Yes, the commands he'd given the anti-clan leader weapons were as refined as he was really going to get, having to split his attention like this.

"Die."

Make eye contact and use mind control to paralyze the enemy long enough to charge and land a decisive blow: that was how the Landegre compensated for Regasus' weaknesses. He didn't have Gejutel's soul weapon.

He had two anti-clan leader weapons, rigged with a self-destruct.

If he couldn't save them, he thought, throwing up a shield to protect himself from the blast once their arms were wrapped around the still-paralyzed werewolves, at least he would let them avenge themselves.

Like another weapon the Union made from its victims.

* * *

He checked the most disaster-proofed part of the complex last, because of the need to loot and document the parts that were falling apart (cellphone cameras were very practical things, especially his version) before any more of their contents were destroyed. Any more of the data, the _evidence_ , erased. That was where he found two huge doors that opened onto a still-functioning containment system. The tube's size was practical, not overdramatic, when they couldn't afford any risk that knocking into the sides of the tube might awaken their prisoner.

Frankenstein stood there for some time, eyes narrowed, considering the implications.

Finally, he smiled, opening up text messaging. "And to top it all off, I get to bring Master home a souvenir." Once he built some more portable gift-wrapping and transferred Muzaka into it safely.

An ordinary cellphone wouldn't have signal this far down, but he'd tapped into this complex's intranet, "And look, the Union is sending me helicopters to carry my loot home for me."

Meaning he needed to get up there before Dark Spear grabbed any of the pilots. He was ninety-nine percent certain that the mass of souls wouldn't be able to restrain themselves from devouring the hated enemy, much less manage to keep the body intact long enough to pilot a helicopter, but he couldn't let them escape to the mainland and start eating cities.

Dark Spear's philosophy when it came to potential Union agents (meaning: anyone alive) was 'kill them all and let us sort them out.'

Fortunately he'd made plans for a rather _larger_ number of experiment victims in need of evacuation to a safe location. A non-zero number.

It was a pity he wasn't able to do anything for the last shipment Ignes received, but at least he hadn't needed to be certain the Kertia had gotten them all before he could risk unleashing Dark Spear. There probably was grumbling about him having Rajak bring a force to the island only to send them straight back, but he doubted Lukedonia was going to complain about not having to bring Ignes' victims back to the island and host enhanced humans in his Master's manor once they got them past the Union's fleet.

Frankenstein wasn't going to need assistance hiding one helicopter from satellites until he could insert it into a seemingly-innocent flight path. That was relatively trivial, especially with Tao to hack the flight plan into the necessary systems.

No, the only tricky part remaining was building a safe container for Muzaka.

"Rajak, you wouldn't have happened to find wrapping paper in Roctis' quarters, would you?" he asked the seemingly-empty room.

* * *

 _The remaining enemies are smarter (except Maduke), so next time I write a confrontation between the household and the opposition it won't be this easy. There's a certain satisfaction in people like Crombel and Ignes getting smacked down hard, but only if it feels like something that could justifiably happen. For example, if Crombel had finished going over that data and started upgrading himself with it before Frankenstein acted, I could not have written him that easy to take out._

 _The Kertia combat style's existence raises the question of who they were hiding from. Can't have been werewolves, not when the Kertia style optimally does 'scratch damage' so the fighter doesn't remain exposed for long periods of time, and that's darn near useless against werewolves since werewolves can regen._

 _By contrast, the Landegre combat techniques were_ definitely _developed to kill werewolves. To kill a werewolf, you need to land massive hits to outpace their regen. As we see with Regis pre-Regasus (and it'd be worse for non-purebloods), gathering that much power is exhausting and they can only do that a few times per fight, so they can't afford to miss. They compensate for this by using mind control to freeze the opponent – something that probably works better on werewolves than fellow nobles._

 _Rajak fighting a speed-focused werewolf was the worst possible matchup (why he couldn't afford to try to run and expose his back to attacks – see his Zarga battle for why that's a bad idea), while if Kentas hadn't backed down, Gejutel would have swatted him. On the other hand, against nobles the Kertia style immediately puts their opponent off-balance since nobles (who aren't veterans of fighting werewolves like Gejutel) would have absolutely no experience blocking attacks they couldn't see coming._


	12. The Elephant in the Lab

_Heh, realized the similarity to the need to discuss new members of the family with young children so they know what's going on and don't feel they're being replaced by the baby, although given relative ages..._

* * *

Sitting in his security station, Tao quickly answered the phone when he saw the number calling. "Yes, Boss?"

Tao could hear the familiar sounds of a helicopter over the connection. "I'm on my way back from my little trip. It was very productive," Boss said, sounding pleased. Then his voice grew more serious, a little tired. "There was someone I couldn't send to Lukedonia's clinic. I found that the Union was keeping an old friend of ours at that base. A werewolf. I wanted to warn the three of you before you came home to find someone in the lab under sedation."

The _Union_ had _experimented on_ Boss' friend?

…and he still took the time, it still even _occurred_ to him to worry that it might upset them to go down there and find someone in the same position they used to be in?

"A werewolf?" he said quickly, trying to sound cheerful, as though that was what mattered.

"Yes, so at the moment I have no idea what his prognosis is or how long I'll need to keep him in the lab, I'm afraid. I have very little data on that species, although I managed to steal most of the data stored at that base."

"That's okay," he said, and laughed, even knowing that Boss wasn't going to believe it was okay-okay for a second.

"No, it isn't," Boss said testily, although he didn't point out the obvious lie. "I can't believe the Union was holding Master's friend for _centuries_ and I had _no idea_ …" He sighed. "At least his power meant they weren't taking the risk of letting him be awake for any of it. Or so I can hope. Tao, would you mind warning the others?"

"Of course, Boss. I'll let you get back to work."

* * *

They headed down to the lab immediately after getting home.

Almost immediately. Exchanging shoes for house slippers. Takeo greeting Seira, M-21 nodding at Raizel… the three of them looking at each other before, before _choosing_ to head down to a lab.

But there was someone down there, and even if they were with _Boss_ , they just couldn't leave someone to get experimented on alone, right?

His – Muzaka's, he had a name, the Union hadn't taken it from him, that was good – hair was silver grey.

Tao turned away from the tube to see M-21's reaction to seeing a real werewolf.

He was just standing there, staring at the figure floating in the tube. Staring. And staring.

"Hey, earth to M-21?" Tao said when the silence stretched on. When he saw that M-21's eyes were unfocused he reached out and snapped his fingers in front of them. Still no response. "Boss?"

"Hmm?" Frankenstein stood up, turning away from the screen he'd been looking at, sitting at the opposite end of the lab from the tube. Seeing that they looked worried, he walked over towards them.

"M-21 isn't responding," Takeo reported.

Frankenstein frowned, and leaned forward, then waved a hand in front of M-21's eyes.

M-21 managed to blink at him, and then shuddered, looking alarmed and confused. _Help,_ his eyes said, and Tao was designed to be a tactician, meant to analyze data, he _kept noticing_ that to M-21, Takeo, even to him, a scientist was help now. Ally, backup, only a threat if they… if they… threatened Raizel, but they weren't going to do that, not anymore. Spilled something and didn't immediately clean it up? He wouldn't kill them, or even torture them a little.

It was just that Tao really didn't want to upset Frankenstein, in a way that had nothing to do with how scary he was (or maybe it had everything to do with how scary he wasn't).

Blue eyes grew slightly distant, instead of narrowing in on an interesting specimen. "Ah," Frankenstein said finally, enlightened. "It's a good thing you didn't encounter the Fifth Elder. M-21, you're feeling mentally paralyzed and mainly nonverbal. It's only temporary; _don't_ try to fight it. Tao, a chair?"

Tao grabbed one from the picnic table with umbrella he'd brought down a second time since if Frankenstein did bring someone home from a _Union_ lab, he wanted their lab ( _their?_ ) to look a little… fun, weird, not-Union? So maybe the poor experiment subject would be just a little too busy wondering what on earth that was doing there to be as scared when they woke up.

Frankenstein gave M-21's chest a calculated push and he fell back into the chair, looking up at Frankenstein, a little grateful. Tao saw M-21's mouth trying to form words. He didn't seem scared yet, not exactly, especially since Frankenstein seemed to know what was going on, but "What's happening to M-21?" Takeo was the one to ask.

"He's a human with a werewolf heart," Frankenstein explained. "Judging from my brief look at the Union's data on Muzaka – not that I'm prepared to trust Union data – I was correct that all werewolves were chimeras. M-21 was born human, and then he had M-24 psychically attack him both for practice and to train M-21's mental defenses, so M-21's natural psychic abilities… aren't so much trained as 'awake,' and at this point, between Master, myself… he's living in a house with six active psychics."

Tao tallied that up. Four nobles, now that Rael had arrived, even if he was mostly avoiding them except for mandatory family dinners and studying with Raizel in the living room at night. Frankenstein made five, so that meant Tao, or Takeo, not both? Unless M-21 training with M-24 meant he counted?

M-21 shook his head. "Not…"

"It's not a psychic assault," Frankenstein agreed. "Werewolves aren't psychic. That's the problem. Your subconscious is suffering some…" He paused. "Confusion, because you're expecting certain things to happen and they aren't. You've seen how the unenhanced will often react to Master and the other nobles; this is something similar, but it's taking longer because nothing's happening. Bear with it, your brain will sort itself out. Try to stay calm, and sleep will make it go faster." He patted M-21 on the shoulder briefly.

Judging from M-21's grateful nod, that sounded right to him. "It's not?" The tilt of his head indicated the tube.

"It's not because he's asleep, although…" Frankenstein looked warily at Muzaka. "If having a physical barrier between the two of you is a factor…" Unhappy calculations flashed behind Frankenstein's eyes before he shook his head. "Having him awake shouldn't make any difference unless the Union has tampered with him, and at this point I haven't had the chance to look into it. It's not merely what they did, it's how Muzaka's body mutated in response to those provocations. Master… agrees with me that it's important to fully investigate and stabilize Muzaka's condition before we risk waking him up. Muzaka retained his title as Werewolf Lord by defeating all challengers. If someone that powerful goes berserk in a populated area…"

Tao paled and he tried to fix a smile on his face. Frankenstein, no, _Boss_ was making an excuse for keeping someone trapped helpless in his lab? "What about the island?" he said, with a laugh trying to point out that the excuse was an excuse without…

He was right back to thinking he was going to get in trouble for questioning the scientists again, wasn't he. He felt ashamed for mistrusting them like that: both of them.

"That is where we'll be waking him up eventually, yes," Frankenstein told him. "I understand why the three of you aren't comfortable with keeping him in my lab indefinitely. I'm not either." He shook his head. "Master isn't telling me something, and knowing Master it's because my guess is correct, I'm afraid. Muzaka is almost certainly the one who exhausted Master enough to force him into hibernation eight hundred and twenty years ago."

"And you're letting him live?" Takeo asked, an expression of pure shock on his face. Someone that powerful who was willing to attack _Raizel?_ Sure, he got in some kind of fight with Raskreia, but that was mostly a misunderstanding or training session or something.

No, it wasn't even that only someone evil would try to hurt Raizel and even though he'd forgiven them and let them stay here, Frankenstein… Frankenstein nearly killed Takeo when Takeo remarked that Raizel would be his next target, Tao had learned when he and Takeo compared notes afterwards. Someone who hurt Raizel enough he was _still_ dying, and Frankenstein, Frankenstein was _trying to save his life?_

Except Frankenstein was shaking his head. "It isn't like that. The Muzaka that I knew was Master's friend: he would _never_ have done that, much less given Master a reason to fight him. Not of his own free will."

Tao paled. He knew that mind control existed, had even talked with Regis about trying to use it in combat, but this wasn't getting someone to hold still for a second. "You think that someone…"

"Werewolf psychic defenses function by triggering their own neurons to self-destruct. It's possible the traitor clan leaders… they may even have managed to wipe his personality." Just like what the Union did to Tao and the others. "At this point I can only hypothesize, and guesses aren't enough, not if there's going to be any hope of saving Master's friend." He looked at the three of them. "I know that this is going to make you uncomfortable, and I'm sorry. I'd offer to move him to the island lab, but Master wants to check on him periodically."

"No," Takeo said, taking a deep breath. "It's better… if he's here, isn't it? In the house with his friend. And the three of us."

Right, right, they could… If Boss started abusing… No, Boss wasn't going to hurt a test subject, that was ridiculous. Well, not unless they asked for it, because Boss cared about what people wanted. Muzaka had already been hurt by the Union, Boss wasn't going to add to that.

…Even if Muzaka hurt Boss' master?

Was Tao really thinking that they could _stop_ a scientist from being a scientist to a helpless test subject? Yeah, they could go to Boss' master! Or… even to Boss?

He'd… he'd really stop if they said something wasn't okay?

"You can guard him in shifts, if that would help," Boss said gently, looking at all three of them, even M-21. "In fact, I'd appreciate it, while Master is at school. I'll be setting alarms, and… well, the KSA is already doing their best with city evacuation plans. It would just worry them." To know there was _another_ potential bomb that could go off. Not just Muzaka himself, but now the Union had one more reason to come after them. "But if he wakes, you must not even think about doing anything that could be interpreted as threatening him," he said sternly. "M-21 might be able to get away with it, when cubs are normally exempt from werewolf territorial impulses, but that is only a _might_ , and how do you think Master's friend would feel, if he came back to himself and found out he'd killed a cub Master had taken in? And of course don't try to keep him in the lab. Hmm, if anything, perhaps I should have the KSA be ready to clear a corridor between here and where that last battle took place." It was already wrecked and people were steering clear of the dangerous wreckage, except for limited numbers of salvage crews during the day.

"Right!" Tao said, glad to have the excuse that didn't imply they didn't trust Boss. Or was just… something else to think about. He could tell the KSA to set that up on general principles. "We're _his_ knights, so we'll protect his friend for him! If maybe having M-21 around will calm him down, do you think we should talk, like when people are in comas?"

"At this point, he can't hear us," Frankenstein said, turning to glance at the tube. "I'll be gradually bringing him out of sensory deprivation, but that's _gradually._ Humans can start hallucinating under similar circumstances, and I have only the Ninth Elder's data on werewolf neurology – and I'll thank you, M-21, _not to give me any more data_." He gave him a pointed look as he said it.

M-21 made a questioning noise up at him that was almost puppyish, and then blinked at what came out of his mouth.

"Werewolf cells are very survival-oriented. If they decided that your psychic powers being overly active was getting in the way of your ability to survive? You have cells in your body that handle psychic defense by _destroying their own brain cells._ Fortunately, when you were first training with M-24 your werewolf heart was weak enough that your human brain defaulted to human defenses, but that's why I don't want you to get panicked enough over this temporary confusion to trigger a threat response. I don't want you to lose any more of your original neurons when recovering those names is so important to you, especially when the area in the brain that handles psychic abilities is located so close to memory centers to download and upload data more efficiently."

As M-21's eyes widened, Frankenstein held up a hand to forestall him. "The good news is that right now, _especially_ if you sleep, a great deal of neurons will be firing and connections forming _in an area related to memory_."

That didn't just get a reaction from M-21, but Tao and Takeo both leaned forward a little, hoping for M-21's sake.

"So sit down, relax, think about things that are found outside labs, and when your speech centers move back over from psychic to verbal processing let me know if anything triggered. I realize that it's very irritating to be in this condition, but you may be able to take advantage of it."

M-21 nodded, hanging on every word.

Frankenstein gave him a smile. "I'll be back down in a minute with Master's tea. Tao, Takeo," he gestured. With me.

They followed him out of the lab as the door closed behind him.

"What happened to M-21?" Takeo asked.

"It seems that werewolves have a strong imprinting instinct to keep territorial instincts from making them attack their own children or parents. That triggering on the first werewolf he's ever seen set off… not really an imprinting instinct, but something nobles observed early humans doing. M-24 being M-21's closest family may explain it..." From the slight frown Frankenstein was perfectly aware there was a higher ratio of hypothesis to data in there than he'd like.

"It seems that?" Tao asked. "So you're not sure?"

He frowned, uncertain and not happy about it, then shook his head. "I haven't personally verified it, but I doubt Master would be wrong about something that serious. Other than a few conversations with Muzaka and Gejutel, all my werewolf data came from M-21 and what I glanced at while transferring Muzaka into something travel-sized. Muzaka certainly wasn't territorial, but apparently after the nobles left the human world the werewolves began thinking of each other as family in order to work together."

Frankenstein paused, not because he'd realized that he was digressing into happy theorizing aloud when they were worried about M-21, but more like he'd remembered something very annoying. Or someone. "I stole the Ninth Elder's files and I'll be reading them over, but while my psychic abilities are certainly good, if I do say so myself, Master's are, hmm, specialized, and I thought it might be useful to have his input."

"So _he_ told you that about werewolves?" Something about that made Tao go 'huh?'

Right, Raizel didn't like speaking badly of people. Frankenstein could talk about them potentially attacking kids… but Raizel couldn't say it, even if it was true. Even if it was important to know for M-21's sake, he'd have to do the noble thing and try to hint around it? It would have taken a lot longer than how long Frankenstein was examining M-21.

"Told, no. _We_ were looking at M-21. I picked it up from Master's mind. In any case, Master will be coming down here, and I'd appreciate it if you spent time around M-21 until this passes. Just having you there will help keep him comfortable and avoid any complications. It's probably best if I banish myself from the lab for the duration, so Tao, if you'd mind keeping an eye on Muzaka's readings for me? Master may or may not be the first to know if he's not comfortable, but I'd still like him kept under conventional observation."

A scientist just leaving behind an interesting phenomenon and two test subjects like that, so M-21 would be alright? "Sure, Boss," Tao said, smiling.

Takeo nodded, looking appreciative and relieved, but like it was only to be expected of Boss.

As soon as the elevator door closed behind him, Tao turned to Takeo to see the sniper glaring, arms folded. "Takeo?" Tao asked, almost startled.

"If this is another M-24…"

Tao's eyes widened. He hadn't even thought of that! "And _he_ can't tell because Muzaka's a werewolf and he doesn't want to risk frying whatever's left of his friend?"

"That isn't what was worrying you?" Takeo asked.

"If _he_ has that kind of data, why didn't he give it to Boss?" Tao made a flaily gesture, wishing he could sketch his thoughts in the air, but he'd still have to pull them together to even know what to sketch. His brain was just giving him the jigsaw alert, that even if he didn't have the connecting bits yet some pieces were definitely lining up. "I get the feeling that, well, something weird's going on with that? And since we're talking about _him_?" Was it okay for _him_ to be watching over Muzaka or whatever _he_ was doing? Not that _he_ would stop if he was worried about a friend, but was that all there was to it? "Then Boss changed the subject." Tao laughed, scratching the back of his head. "I'm probably just being hypersensitive, you know? Because someone who isn't one of us is in the lab and M-21's being a puppy."

"Werewolf data might just be unimportant compared to the welfare of two people in his care," Takeo told him. "Regardless, I think we should get back in there to watch M-21. The werewolves in the Union might know that this would happen to him. We can't let them do this to him a second time. We also…" Takeo glanced at the door, face tightening for a minute. "Need to get Frankenstein back in the lab, looking at that data." It felt like a betrayal of everyone the Union had taken to _want_ a scientist to examine someone else, hand them over to be experimented on, but…

"Yeah," Tao acknowledged. He'd be better at spotting anything than they were. "And Boss likes figuring out that kind of stuff on his own." Getting data from Raizel might not be _that_ much better than Google. "But they weren't sure if that was M-24, but they seem pretty sure that this is Muzaka."

"Or it _was_ Muzaka," Takeo said grimly. "If the Union did to him what they did to us… For all we know, I did have a little sister, and the Union had me put a bullet through her head."

Oh. Wow. That, …yeah. That was the kind of thing Dr. Aris would do, huh? Especially after she started playing with Takeo.

" _He_ and Boss, they're threats to the Union. Real threats. They might even be able to _stop_ it _,"_ Tao said, no longer trying to smile, eyes narrow and serious. Wasn't it strange that even when the Union was down to three elders, it was still only something he could barely dream of? The Union was the Union – it _couldn't_ be beaten. They couldn't win, but that was why they _had_ to. "If the Union has any stops, they're going to pull them all out."

The Union didn't give a damn about civilian casualties, but they knew that nobles, the good nobles, did. That was why those Elders blew up part of downtown to call out Miss Seira. And North Korea was _right there_.

Tao really wished he didn't _think_ of things like this. Of the Union using nuclear weapons instead of enhanced humans to force Raizel to use up all his power. But that kind of thing, boosting tactical efficiency… it was what he was designed for.

The elevator door opened and _he_ walked through, carrying one of the books Boss had made him. Normally Raizel didn't read or study while the rest of them were up – Tao wondered what that was about… maybe trying to be available? Anyway, it was a sign he meant to be there all night, at least until it was time to get ready for school. Keeping Muzaka company and M-21, so they didn't have to risk waking up in a lab alone?

Red eyes focused on Tao, instantly seeing that he was upset, and while Tao tried to plaster on a smile, Raizel walked over and patted him on the shoulder with his free hand, like he was Frankenstein. The noble's face was still composed, and that was a relief, because being pitied meant being weak and that was dangerous.

Raizel stepped back and handed the book to Takeo, who took it with a smile.

Arms opened and Tao grabbed his chance hard.

" _I'm not losing this,_ " he swore to himself as he pulled Raizel to his chest with more strength than he should be using, his training was alerting him in the back of his mind. An unenhanced human would have had trouble breathing. Did nobles breathe? Or just to talk and smell things? Raizel didn't seem bothered and patted him on the back, which was good because Tao would have had a really hard time convincing himself to let go. " _I'm not letting go. They're not taking this from me. I won't let them take this from me._ "

He'd made himself Raizel's Knight instead of Dr. Aris' assassin, so it was now literally his job to protect this. To keep anyone from taking it away. Nope, nope, _not happening._

" _Mine_ ," he thought, and even imagining Boss clearing his throat warningly, because he'd seen Raizel first, didn't make Tao release Raizel by even a millimeter. He felt his fingers dig into the jacket, scrunch it up.

Since nobles could shapeshift, Raizel could probably be tiny. Not just Regis-sized, but tinier. Although Tao could totally carry Regis. Not that he couldn't pick up Raizel; he wasn't heavier than a human, but a tinier version would be easier to pick up and hide under his desk and was this why normal people had stuffed animals? Although that was to cling to them to feel safe, and this was Tao wanting to transform and wrap his cables around Raziel so he could drag Raizel away from danger and _no one_ was hurting him without going through Tao.

And M-21! He'd already gotten used by the fake M-24 on Tao's watch, when intelligence and analysis was supposed to be Tao's thing!

 _Takeo_ , Takeo and Dr. Aris and how… "I need to be stronger," Tao said into Raizel's shoulder. "I really need to be stronger. I don't care if I fall apart or _anything,_ I just can't watch any of you die."

He could feel Raizel tense, wanting to say no, no, because power wasn't _good_ for people, it was why Raizel and Boss were alone before they met and were probably going to die fighting now, but Tao didn't _want_ them to die and he could build his systems and work on his strategies and train but all of it might be useless if he didn't have enough _strength_ to matter.

He could have said please, he could have begged, but he'd watched Raizel stare at Ikhan and the others when he came to rescue them from the rest of DA-5. Why did they think they had to beg him to save Tao? For _anything_? Didn't they know that he loved them, that of _course_ he would do this for them?

For Tao to say 'please' would have twisted the knife, and even if that was the killing blow, the effective tactic, he already knew Raizel enough to know he couldn't fight back. It wouldn't be right to force him.

"If…" _if that is your will_ , he could hear that Raizel was about to say.

But Tao shook his head. "No! That might hurt you, and I don't want you or any of the others to get hurt!" It might _kill_ him. "I need a way to get stronger that doesn't sacrifice anyone but myself."

 _His_ head turned.

"There is… one way, Master," Frankenstein said, voice reluctant. He sighed, and Tao could hear him shaking his head. "I suppose we're all lucky that crazy thing is going to be in a very good mood for the foreseeable future…"

Tao's head jerked up hopefully. "But _not_ now," Frankenstein told him, glaring at him over the tea tray. "I have a lot of data to go over, and stabilizing patients takes priority over further enhancement." _Tao._

Tao might have hugged him too if it weren't for the tea tray and his will to live. He might send it flying, and messes upset Boss more when he was worried. Between a friend who got experimented on by the Union, M-21 being like this when Frankenstein wasn't actually _certain_ of the reason why and his Master being sick, Boss had to be _really_ worried right now.

It made Tao feel bad about springing this on him, but Boss had just walked past, shaking his head at the folly of youth. He wasn't even angry.

Well, of course Boss would understand, right? Why exactly Tao didn't want to lose any of them.


	13. Family Rooms

"You remembered something?" Tao asked eagerly, leaning across the table.

M-21 just nodded, smiling to himself. "It's not much, but it's something. It's proof that the memories weren't completely wiped."

Nobles could suppress memories and nudge people to create new memories to fill the holes. The Union couldn't do that, or if they had modified humans who could, they weren't going to waste them on either experiment material or _witnesses_ when it was so much simpler to have minions use chemicals or just kill them.

Or see if any of the labs needed new test subjects.

They always did.

"That's great, M-21! Leave it to me, any scraps of data you remember, I'll put them together!"

Carefully sipping from his drink, Takeo frowned. "If we find anyone connected with you or your comrades now, when we're at war with the Union…"

Tao frowned at him. "But the trail's already cold! I'm Tao, but I'm not a miracle worker. Sure, Boss is, but he's not a fan of using search engines to get data."

"I may not be a fan of it," they heard as the elevator doors opened behind them, "but I believe I told you that was because it was too easy?" Meaning yes, Frankenstein was good at finding information online. "What I am _not_ fond of is… Ah," he said, looking at the table under the umbrella. "No food, and all of your drinks are lidded. Good."

Tao was quick to say, "We'll bring the table back up…"

"No," the scientist said, tapping the tablet with a stylus without using a bit of enhanced strength, even when it was a movement that seemed idle. "It's important to make Master's friend comfortable. What else should I do to make this room un-lab-like…"

* * *

"Sir?" Rael asked, standing at Raizel's side after bringing him a new cup of tea, and the Noblesse looked up at him.

He hadn't felt right disturbing _his_ silence as they studied together at night, and during the day there were always humans, enhanced or not about. And Regis. But they had gone down to that lab, where the training rooms were. So unless that Tao was spying on him, this was his chance to ask.

The Noblesse's patiently waiting expression made him want to apologize for disturbing someone like this, but _he_ was waiting for Rael's question.

"Why do you let those humans stay here?" he asked. "Sir?" Rael knew he should have had the presence of mind to add that to be polite, but it had just slipped out.

That earned him a frown. "This is their home."

"Yes, sir!" Rael did _not_ flinch. "I understand. I… didn't mean to imply that it wasn't?"

He was given a nod of forgiveness. "Then, your question."

"Why… why did you let it be their home?"

"They had nowhere to belong," Cadis Etrama di Raizel said so simply it took Rael a moment to realize that wasn't actually a simple thing to say.

The Noblesse had returned his attention his tea, but looked back towards him when Rael said, "Enhanced humans don't belong among the other humans anymore." Now when they had betrayed their species for power, and were even likelier to kill other humans than they were to kill nobles. No wonder the humans didn't want Union toys, even if these ones didn't want to be traitors to humanity. "But why should nobles take them in?"

" _I_ took them in," he corrected Rael. "I did it because I wished to, and it was their wish as well." Once again, he seemed to think the matter was resolved.

"But… why?"

Turning back towards Rael, patient red eyes examined him. Rajak never had the time to just sit like this with Rael. Gejutel and the other clan leaders thought they were older and so superior, but Cadis Etrama di Raizel did him the honor of considering his question. "As the Noblesse, I was always alone," _he_ said.

Rael's eyes widened and he wondered at the ache. Of course it wasn't right for someone who should be honored to be _alone_ , but something else made those words affect him and he didn't understand.

"Both because of my power, and because it was my duty to remain apart, so that I would judge the clan leaders without hesitation if they lost their honor as nobles. The children were separated from their own kind, and from the families they were born to. If I can give them a normal life, then… then I am worthy of the gift Frankenstein has given me."

That left him blinking, as boggled as Regis often was. "What, but… of course you are?" How could he not be worthy?

"Ye Ran High School is a place he created for my sake. That is why I have warned you that you must not cause difficulties there."

A place built to honor the Noblesse? Then, by freezing the humans there to get Seira's attention… no wonder Frankenstein and the other enhanced humans were so annoyed! He might as well have behaved disrespectfully in the Previous Lord's sanctuary!

"You have a place to belong," _he_ told Rael, "but you do not feel that you belong there."

He cast his eyes down to his shoes. House slippers, not shoes. The Noblesse's bonded insisted that Rael not bring in dirt or trash to befoul where his master lived. Yet he still let the Union's discarded toys live here. "Yes," he said quietly. "How can I remain with the Kertia when I am the reason their Clan Leader may not be able to protect them?" It wasn't only Rajak at risk! The Kertia were one of the largest clans left, and what if Rael was the reason they died like the Landegre?

Red eyes looked at him over the cup of tea Rael was allowed to make for him. "I do not know what it is to be someone's son, or a younger brother, but to prefer death to being the reason others perish… The previous clan leader of the Kertia split his soul so that you would be protected. He is not the only one among the Kertia who wishes to protect you. But, until you understand that you have somewhere to belong, you will belong here. This is your home too," the Noblesse promised him.

Rael fell to one knee before him, and felt _him_ reach out to lay a hand on his shoulder in benediction.

Was this why that disgraceful traitor Urokai Agvain was so angry? Thinking that he had been denied this in favor of a _human_? Being _jealous_ of a _human_ enough to betray the Lord and the nobles and try to send the Noblesse into eternal sleep: how disgusting. Caring about humans, about _any_ human enough to value about them and their business more than the lives of the Loyard and the Landegre was…

Then Rael realized he'd compared Seira and Regis' parents to their killers, as though they were no better than the traitors, and no wonder Seira, who used to be his friend, had nothing but cool disdain for him since that day. He had no right, no right at all, to be angry at Seira's parent for failing to fight for their lives. No right to accuse them of fighting for the humans but not to come home to their children.

It was the traitors' fault her family was forced into eternal sleep, not their fault.

It was not his father's fault: it was the will of the Lord, and of course the nobles would obey. His father was honorable, not like the traitors who killed Seira and Regis' families!

Just thinking of them made him grit his teeth in anger and disgust.

"You are very like Frankenstein," said the Noblesse, touching Rael's shoulder again to remind him of _his_ presence. "It angers you, that the world is not right."

Comparing him to… to a human his father found worthy of acknowledgement? Rajak had even said that Ragar mentioned he _missed_ Frankenstein. No, more than that, was the Noblesse comparing him to his own bonded? Rael felt heat on his cheeks and knew he was blushing.

Thank goodness he'd waited until everyone else was occupied, imagine if Frankenstein walked in now! Or worse, Regis.

* * *

Frankenstein was humming when the Takeo and the others came back down carrying the things he'd sent them out to get. "Honestly, that hack calling _me_ a traitor to the human race. Me!" Frankenstein's grin was full of too much vicious satisfaction for him to have taken it seriously. That was a relief. "For stealing back my own research and setting back their plans to conquer – which species? _Humanity_ – by, oh, wait, a thousand years and they _still_ haven't caught up to me. Claiming to be the greatest expert on human enhancement? Throw enough darts at a dart board and eventually even someone like Crombel will get lucky." M-21. "A traitor to humanity for saving it from the Union… If anyone was going to be accusing me of betraying my species, it had _better_ be for enrolling nobles in a mathematics course."

Takeo looked at Tao, who looked thoughtful and snapped his fingers a minute after putting the shopping bag down on the picnic table. "Logic!"

Frankenstein nodded, looking pleased, although most of his focus was on the data on the screen. "Unfortunately, mathematics is a language, so we would have lost that advantage the instant a noble was in the presence of a critical mass of people who knew calculus, or programmers, for a sufficient length of time. Even Master's powers aren't any help to him in an actual mathematics _course_ because the children around him don't understand the material. Or rather, the instant they understand the material, the class moves on to the next topic, so without studying he would be perpetually behind. I've been keeping an eye on their assignments, and as with humans, actually _learning_ a language is helping Miss Seira and Regis. I was worried I'd have to put them back a grade in their Korean class."

Ouch, Takeo thought, that would be hard on Regis. "Their Korean is better than mine," he said, just in case. No thanks to Tao.

"Their reading comprehension was excellent. Their ability to write an essay?" Frankenstein shook his head. "Fortunately, they were able to make the mental leap to treating written Korean the way they treated mathematics, and Miss Seira has become quite the prolific letter-writer in addition to her reports. If they hadn't before the class reached writing poetry, I really would have had to take steps."

"Poetry?" Takeo asked.

"Poetry is about using a language and all of its mechanics for maximum effectiveness. Most of the traditional poetic forms have additional rules put in place to make it more challenging. Supposedly because challenge inspires creativity, but mainly to show off."

Tao looked boggled. "You've written poetry." Right? Boss was a thousand years old, he must have _somewhere_ in there. Those lines by the school gate were from a poem, too.

"Of course," Frankenstein said, as though it was obvious. "Because poetry is so difficult, a great many times and places have used it as an IQ test. Someone who couldn't write and analyze poetry on the spot would have been laughed out of intellectual circles. Creating a sequence of words and symbols, in accordance with certain rules, that will be interpreted by an engine capable of performing calculations, in order to create a specific outcome." From his expression, he thought that surely Tao understood now?

Tao's fist hit his open palm. "Computer programming!" he exclaimed, eyes animated.

It was good to see him having fun, after their talk about Muzaka. Genuinely enjoying this, not just trying to be upbeat for everyone's sake.

"Exactly," Frankenstein said. "Much famous poetry was composed purely to show off. In cultures where intelligence was valued, the rich would hire ghostwriters, which is why many intellectual gatherings made games of tossing poetic challenges at people and well, they'd best be able to think fast." He chuckled. "I had to master those games, if only to save my coat from the mud. Unfortunately, while most human students of poetry can feel how effective their work is, a noble has no way of knowing, and Master refuses to let me listen to his attempts to produce something harmonious."

Ouch, Takeo thought, wincing. Given how importance elegance was to nobles, and not being noisy, Raizel would hate the thought of making Frankenstein listen to terrible poetry while Raizel tried to figure out how to write something that wasn't terrible.

Tao looked confused and interested, clearly wanting Frankenstein to go on, and M-21 met Takeo's eyes, gesturing at the other two with a shoulder. Did they want to stick around the lab while Tao buttered up the boss by being curious? They'd come down to bring him his things and see if he was injured or needed to be calmed down from the kind of rage at the Union's latest atrocities that let Dark Spear get out and hurt him, but he seemed fine.

Takeo smiled and gestured with a shoulder for M-21 to go on ahead. After the last time Tao played a prank on him using language, this was something Takeo might want to know about.

Judging from how he leaned back against the wall, M-21 seemed to feel that if both of them were staying around, he had to stay around too.

Frankenstein did look happy to see that they were interested in something. "Poetry is designed for the human brain, not the noble soul… although that _would_ be a challenge," he mused. "I do have a captive audience, so I wouldn't have to inflict doggerel on Master… another time. The human brain is a pattern-finding machine. Correctly structured poe..." He frowned, looking disapproving and maybe slightly worried.

The data kept scrolling by on the screen. Tao might be able to read it at that speed, but Takeo was barely managing to pick out phrases and strings of numbers before they were replaced by the next set.

Frankenstein's frown deepened, and they saw his eyes narrow angrily a few times as the silence dragged on. Takeo kept an eye on him instead of the screen, planning to ask another question to distract him if he got angry enough for Dark Spear to act up. Judging from his expression, he was seeing things he'd expected to see, even if he didn't like them. Not fresh outrages to stun him enough Dark Spear could slip loose outside battle.

The seconds dragged on until Frankenstein shook his head in condemnation of the Union's research. More to himself than to them, he mused, "If the Union succeeds, I've no doubt that ten thousand years down the line they'll have lost all history, logic and civilization. I would not be surprised if a sentient species evolving on Earth, or elsewhere, and going down the Union's evolutionary dead end is the origin of werewolves… If so, I can't let their history repeat with our species."

Fortunately, it looked as though Frankenstein realized how M-21 might take that before Takeo had to try to do something.

"What about the nobles?" Tao asked, to change the subject. "I know you said we won't know unless we find some evidence, but you've got to have a theory."

"They're shapeshifters, so their bodies are artificially designed, but not in an organized fashion – aside from what's been mandated by the Lords," Frankenstein said, half of his attention still on the screen. "Most of what humans can observe of them either comes from us or was engineered by the Lords, so it's hard to discern what noble traits are inherent and which are cultural. I can't make guesses about their nature when I can't tell what's nature and what's nurture." He shrugged and said, "Let the nobles wonder about where they came from; it's one of the major existential questions and uncertainty is good for them."

"You don't want to know?" Tao asked, stunned.

Frankenstein gave them a half-shrug. "There are a lot of things I want to know, like how to give you a part of Dark Spear's power without it using the agony to drive you insane enough for it to take over. Even I have to prioritize."

"What?" Takeo asked, paling.

"Tao asked Master for the power to protect all of us, and Master respects his will and asked me to grant his wish. Power that didn't extract a price from anyone but himself. If I had sane ways to give you power quickly, obviously I'd have used them already." Frankenstein took off his glasses to polish them: cleaning something made him feel better. "Dark Spear is composed of _people_. Human beings. I'm one thing, but even if they will try to hold themselves back, they won't be able to help themselves. I don't want them to have the torture of a fellow victim of the Union on their consciences. They have agreed, they want to help you fight the Union, but they will still try to take you over so they can do it themselves. Can kill more of the Union's agents. Can kill people who might be a Union agent. Kill people for the crime of not fighting the Union. Of living peacefully and happily while the Union still exists. I may be able to extract the souls of the Union Elders I fed them and give those to you, which will give you fewer wills to fight against, and weaker wills, but Dark Spear will not like that. Some of them will, must, be part of the piece I give you, and they will be the angriest ones, the ones who would not let go no matter what I offered them. I need time, Tao. I need time to try to come up with something before I do this to you."

"I can't wait forever. I wish I could," that Tao didn't have to do this at all, that they weren't in danger, "but I can't."

"You won't have to ask Master to order me. We both respect your will. We both understand the need to save those we care about, and it isn't fair for us to stop you when you can't stop us." Blue eyes looked down at his glasses, his hands still. "And there might – might – have been enough of… something to create a single, weaker iteration of Dark Spear that should have been safer, but I've already used all of it I can spare trying two things to save Master when I knew that neither of them would work."

"Boss?" Tao said, smiling. "If I asked before you did that, and you didn't try to save him because of me? I'd have to do something. Something big. Big enough that whatever you did to get back at me for it would hurt a lot more than Dark Spear, okay?"

Frankenstein stared at him and laughed, not a cackle or something mocking but wow, that was ridiculous.

As though he'd ever be _that_ angry with Tao.

…but did that mean that Dark Spear hurt just that much? Takeo remembered being stabbed through with it: was using it even worse?

Tao tapped his forehead. "I have the schematics of all the local infrastructure, including the water pipes," he said, lips curling up at the ridiculousness of it. "This is him we're talking about, so I'm sorry, Boss, but not even Ye Ran is sacred."

"Do you know that since human psychic energy fields respond to each other, you can make someone else's aura copy the way yours is resonating?" The Boss wondered, smiling pleasantly. "You can use this to set other people to constantly generate certain psychic effects, provided it's something simple enough, like enhancing their own healing."

Well, no, they had no idea. Who but him and possibly Raizel knew things like that?

"Try me," he warned Tao, "and you'll fry every electronic device within three meters of you for, oh, four months."

Tao shuddered, then snickered. "I guess I'm the one who started playing dirty. We were talking about poetry?" he added quickly, before Frankenstein could turn back to the screen with the Union's data.

He started reading again, but he still answered Tao. If giving him a distraction, something better to think about, was all they could do? At least it was something.

"Master can't appreciate music, or poetry, except through me. The mechanism that causes mathematical patterns to give humans pleasure is not there. The noble mind, at its root, has next to nothing in common with the human brain, the way their existences have so few of our evolutionary pressures. Which is much of the reason uncontrolled power from a noble's soul will destroy a human mind," he added. "The reason that we can speak with nobles and come to understand each other is that much of the software running on that hardware comes from us. One way or another, we were involved in the uplift of both other species on this planet, and that's why we can communicate so well with nobles and werewolves. Otherwise, humanity's position on this planet would be far more…"

His thoughts had clearly taken a darker turn again. "We could very well be at the mercy of incredibly powerful beings whose actions we couldn't predict; it wouldn't be possible to reason with them and they'd have no ability to grasp what matters to us, so even if they were kindly disposed, their ignorance might make them more dangerous than hostility would. I don't appreciate H.P. Lovecraft's work, or anyone else who thinks that ignorance is some kind of defense or that humanity is fundamentally helpless and cannot change that situation, but…"

"Oh!" Tao exclaimed. "I thought your personality was because of Dark Spear."

"What?" Frankenstein was the one to stare at him now, turning away from the screen and its listing of some percentage of the Union's crimes. "No."

"But when you use your power, you're all…" Tao wiggled his fingers: was that meant to look like the arcs of dark lightning in the air?

"I may have enhanced my pain tolerance, but even if I can keep it from incapacitating me, summoning Dark Spear _hurts like hell_. Anyone would be a little annoyed with the reason they were in that much pain."

And Frankenstein wouldn't want to take it out on _Dark Spear,_ not when they were victims. So that left the reason he had to call out Dark Spear.

Yet he'd done it all those times just to train them, when it was Takeo's idea to ask him? When he gave reasons training them wasn't practical, he hadn't even _mentioned_ how much it would hurt or endanger him. Because that wasn't important to this man, not compared to their odds of survival against the Union.

Takeo wanted to ask what he'd done to deserve this, but it wasn't possible for anyone to deserve something like this. It was a gift, and all he could try to do was become worthy of it.

"Master took it upon himself to help guard my mind from Dark Spear before we even contracted. If I was being unduly mentally influenced, the Noblesse would know." So Tao had just inadvertently insulted Frankenstein's master.

Twice over, by implying that Frankenstein's bond to a noble, to _Raizel,_ had changed Frankenstein's personality, driven him slightly mad, when free will and people being themselves were so important to both of them.

No fool, Tao backed off hurriedly with a flurry of waving hands.

"There's no need to worry, Tao: if you choose to go through with that experiment, Dark Spear won't influence you. Unless it takes you over. I realize that being from the Union, you are used to incompetent scientists, but I do in fact know what I am doing." Frankenstein gave them a look that was disgusted, but not with _them_. At the inferior craftsmanship that used to distort their bodies?

They heard the hiss of the tea cookie machine depressurizing.

Frankenstein paused, smiled, and hit two buttons to pause the playback and power down the lab's computer. "Excuse me."

His master's afternoon snack was ready.

* * *

Raizel's classmates weren't visiting today, so when Takeo returned from patrol and removed his shoes and earpiece to put on house slippers, Frankenstein and Raizel were drinking tea at the coffee table undisturbed by bits of chips falling on the couch. Takeo smiled, took a cup of tea and joined them. He closed his eyes, inhaling the smell of the tea, and when he opened his eyes again there was a plate in front of him and some of the tea cookies had migrated from Raizel's plate to his.

It wasn't Rael's doing, even though he was standing at Raizel's side, eyes closed and one of his arms in front of him, attempting to look respectful and serene instead of bored stiff and slightly terrified. Takeo was there for Frankenstein's lecture on proper posture and how the previous Kertia Clan Leader had often attended the Previous Lord in this manner.

So, since Rael was in _considerable trouble_ for running away to the human world, then he _might_ want to learn how to show proper respect to Erga Kinesis di Raskreia, unless he wished to suffer the wrath of the Lord.

Or else she might do something even _worse_ than responding to Rajak's request for Rael to be allowed to train by sentencing him to Frankenstein for ten years.

Takeo found himself smiling when he saw that yes, there was just the _slightest_ edge of a smirk to Frankenstein's smile as he enjoyed this moment of peace and his master's company. He was sure Frankenstein enjoyed being better than the nobles at their own courtesies.

M-21 joined in this sometimes: it was seeing him there with the two of them that reassured Takeo that it was okay to intrude on what seemed like private moments, or shared private moments of zen. M-21 said that it was not that bad… sometimes, to just sit there with a cup of tea. To spend awhile doing nothing but _being_ there with the others, but Tao was too active to stand sitting still for long periods unless his mind had something to work on.

Takeo was modified as a sniper. Stillness was a requirement.

To meditate on how the others were here, and safe, and they were at peace for now was much better than having to center all of his attention on putting a bullet through someone's head.

Seira joined them, done with her homework, and Rael shifted his feet. Takeo didn't look at him directly, but out of the corner of his eye he could see that Rael was looking flustered, maybe worried if he was doing this right, until Frankenstein cleared his throat pointedly and he froze, then quickly refroze himself in the correct posture.

With Seira in the room, the ambient serenity was almost doubled. Raizel and Seira seemed to radiate it, all of their movements elegant. A meditative perfection that Takeo found calming instead of alien now.

Maybe they _were_ radiating calmness, Takeo realized.

Was Takeo _sensing_ something? Was that why it was so easy to relax and just be in the moment when Raizel was sitting here? It would be rude to stare, so it wasn't as though Takeo watched the noble drinking tea, or paging through his class notes in the middle of the night, when most of the house but him and Frankenstein had gone to sleep?

That would explain why when they sat down like this he always had the sense that Frankenstein was basking, a cat who had found a sun-warmed spot… or gotten into the cream, and was quite deservedly smug about his cleverness.

He looked up from his tea, blinking, and looked across the coffee table to see Frankenstein smiling at him, pleased with a student. Good, Takeo had finally noticed.

Frankenstein's eyes glanced at Rael significantly. He was not impressed with the fact the Kertia still hadn't caught on.

Takeo didn't really think that was fair: it took Takeo this long to notice, and Rael hadn't lived with them that long.

"If you become much stronger than this, I'll have to teach you how to notice and respect mental boundaries," Frankenstein said to Takeo, before, standing up and taking Raizel's near-empty cup. He bowed over his arm. "Master, allow me to fetch you a new cup of tea."

Raizel gave a dignified nod and Frankenstein went to the kitchen. Rael looked a little dejected that he wasn't allowed to make the tea this time before he managed to remember his dignity as a noble, but if Frankenstein wanted to do something there wasn't much Rael or anyone else could do, Takeo thought, smiling over his own cup.

Beside Takeo, Seira studiously ignored Rael's disturbance, focused on imitating Rai and Frankenstein's composure.

Frankenstein turned to smile at her, and Takeo. "Thank you for helping me set a good example for Rael."

Rael's gaze darted around the room the same way Regis' did when he was certain he'd missed something and that was why he was so confused. But Miss Seira gave a dignified nod, and he settled down, trying to hide that he didn't know what the human was talking about when Miss Seira clearly knew.

"It's our pleasure," Takeo said for them both. Finished with his own cup of tea, he stood and went to the kitchen to wash his cup and saucer. He hadn't seen Tao in awhile. He was probably just working on the security system, but it was a good idea for Takeo to make certain Tao wasn't up to something.

Next to him at the tea machine, Frankenstein chuckled. "What _are_ they teaching them these days… I never thought I'd need to tell a noble 'don't think, feel.' I think the Previous Lord succeeded in erasing a little too _much_ tradition. Still, it means the clan leaders are being forced to learn, without any preconceptions about what nobles are and are not capable of."

"And preconceptions about what humans are capable of?" Takeo wondered.

Frankenstein's smile wasn't that scary, not compared to the expression he'd worn when a certain piece of Union scum dared to threaten his… Raizel. Sick and injured, and dear to him. "Be careful, or I'll assign you to teach Rael how to meditate and become consciously aware of what you just noticed."

Takeo blinked. When the blond kept examining him, he said, "Sir, do you think I…"

"Miss Seira is learning through imitating Master, but she has a great deal of natural talent. Rael didn't have adult noble role models able to spend time with him. Regis and Miss Seira are much younger, so he couldn't pick up from them what they hadn't learned yet." Frankenstein shook his head. "I'd be tempted to open a school on Lukedonia, but that would be imposing human solutions on noble problems, when they need to develop solutions that work for their own species."

"Then I really don't think that I could help him," Takeo said, wondering why he felt disappointment.

"No matter what, it will be a valuable learning experience for him," Frankenstein reassured him. "Rael wants to learn. It also won't hurt for him to learn to respect more humans." From his expression, Frankenstein knew something Takeo didn't know, but then, he knew a great many things. "In exchange, he can teach you how to use your powers. It will be good practice for when he needs to train other clan members."

Takeo couldn't back down and just agree to this without full understanding, because he didn't want to end up being used in some plan to break Rael's pride down even further, when even Frankenstein admitted that he was trying.

Frankenstein looked a little more thoughtful. "You're aware that the Union tampered with your neurology. M-21 is the only human in this household who isn't neurodivergent, one way or another, and none of you three were normally socialized. M-21's friend had noble instincts affecting his actions and emotions. Then all of you ended up in this house, with myself, Master, Regis and Seira. Your main examples of how to act like decent human beings have been myself and three nobles."

Takeo didn't need to look past Frankenstein to know that Raizel and Seira were both determinedly Not Hearing this conversation, but Takeo reminded himself that he had to pick his words carefully when Rael was listening and, well, he was one of them now. "I would be honored," was the first thing that came to mind. Not because it was probably the kind of thing that would placate Rael, but because Frankenstein really wanted him to help teach someone?

For a second time. He hadn't gone to so-helpful Tao to demonstrate something for Raizel, had he? M-21 had been with them longer than Takeo, and Frankenstein still asked Takeo.

He bowed his head. "Thank you, sir. I will do my best."

* * *

"It's noise," Regis said, sounding put-upon.

Since Tao had put headphones on their little noble's head, that was certainly justified, Takeo saw when he walked in to Tao's room.

"It doesn't make you want to move?" Tao asked eagerly.

"It makes me want to _leave_."

"Let me try another genre… Hey, Takeo!" Tao waved.

"Are you experimenting on Regis?" Takeo asked, raising an eyebrow. He looked down at Regis, wordlessly offering assistance.

The little Landegre blinked up at him, seeming caught between 'I'm a big kid and don't need any help,' and 'you're the Tao expert, do something!' when their gaze was broken by Tao sweeping down and yanking the headphones off Regis head.

Something classical that sounded fast-paced and dramatic came from the speakers now, and Regis turned away from Takeo to give Tao another look. "I knew you were _talkative_ , but now you're being noisy too?" Regis folded his arms, looking offended. "You're the one who decided we were going to be _his_ knights, and made me join you to add some class. If this is some battle tactic of yours to distract the enemy…" Then he looked hesitant, because they were fighting the Union, when the Union killed his family. If it was inelegant but it worked?

"Isn't it exciting?" Tao asked.

"Is _what_ exciting?" Regis asked, for what looked like the umpteenth time.

"The music?"

"It's _noise_. What if Takeo hadn't closed the door, and all this noise you're making disturbed _him_?"

"Isn't it cool?" Tao asked, looking from Regis to Takeo. "Even Classical doesn't have enough class!" he said, and laughed.

"It's _noise_ ," Regis repeated.

"I might as well be showing him a rock, and not even a cool-colored rock," Tao went on, attempting to lean over Regis and use him as an armrest, not really expecting to succeed. Regis' hair was pointy, and hard to ruffle. It had sprung back into that point as soon as Takeo removed his hand from Regis' head in the helicopter.

Sure enough, Regis ducked away and started looking at Tao's tech setup as M-21 came in the door. He must have wondered where everyone went off to, and now he was wondering what Tao was on about _now_.

"When we first met them, he was a weird kid, you know," Tao went on, waving a hand in Regis' direction.

"I know," Takeo said, smiling as M-21 nodded in agreement. Regis' willingness to let himself be hurt to protect the other children… he was glad he hadn't been kept back at the hideout. Better to get thrashed by Frankenstein for threatening Raizel than to be ordered to attack a kid for trying to protect good people like Shinwoo and Yuna. "In a good way. He wasn't like anyone we'd seen before. It wasn't even because he was a noble, now was it."

"Well, we thought it was back then," Tao said, but nodded. "We thought that little Regis was like Boss and _him_ because they were all nobles." As for why M-21 also was willing to go so far to protect people, even when he couldn't win… perhaps it was catching?

Maybe they'd hoped it was.

Regis appeared to have figured out which devices were the speakers and was too busy tracing the cords back into the tangle to object to Tao calling him little when he was within a year of his majority. It looked like Ikhan teaching Regis about technology was starting to pay off, Takeo thought, amused by both of them. Or actually, he wondered if Regis was pleased enough at being compared to Frankenstein (his master's loyal knight) and the so-elegant Noblesse to ignore the rest of it.

"But now it's just, he's a pureblood clan heir, and that's useful the way M-21 has a werewolf heart. But M-21's still an enhanced human like us, you know? I guess Regis really is a noble."

Takeo frowned, but from Tao's excited grin he was fairly certain that Tao just thought it was cool. He wasn't saying that Regis wasn't one of them. That was good: Takeo was used to intervening when Tao got enthusiastic enough to put his foot in his mouth by now (though he couldn't complain when it was good to see Tao happy enough to be like this), but he'd rather avoid hurting Regis' feelings in the first place.

The noise – the music – cut off, and Regis straightened, and turned around looking pleased with himself. "Of course I'm a noble."

"Hey, you couldn't tell whether or not Boss was a noble either," Tao reminded him.

"He might as well –" Regis started to say, and quickly thought better of it. He folded his arms and nodded, pleased. "Not that the Bonded of the True Noblesse would abandon humanity for power." He looked starstruck, the way he did when Frankenstein did something that Regis thought was so admirable! …those same things often had Seira and Raizel sighing, but Regis really was a kid, human or not. "Becoming so strong without abandoning his honor because of his will to protect…"

"Look, we all know the weirdest person in this room is Tao," M-21 muttered, knowing that all of them would hear it.

Takeo chuckled.

"And Frankenstein just put Rael in charge of getting everyone to show up on time when Seira's cooking," M-21 warned them. So they'd better get downstairs for family dinner before the annoyed scientist unleashed the assassin.

* * *

 _Without Crombel around to keep the pressure on, the upgrade path may be different... Or not. I'm not going to be able to advance this relative to the webcomic's plot until we have a lot more info on the other threats and what those threats might do with more breathing space, but since the household isn't as embattled as in canon, Frankenstein has the luxury of hesitating to give Tao Dark Spear instead of being forced to realize that if he doesn't do this, and soon, they're going to die._


	14. Miscommunication

_This was written (bar a couple of scenes and a lot of tweaking) before Frankenstein called the Lord 'Lady' in that one episode._

 _It still works. I don't know if he was using a word meaning '(female) lord' in the Korean version, but even if he was noble translation powers have to be able to handle slang, so all of the nobles present would have heard 'flippant way to address a woman.' On the other hand, it's being used respectfully in this chapter, so a noble would hear 'lord.' Noble translation powers are much better than Google Translate, but they've glitched on honorifics in canon and how the Lord is addressed is clearly a button for the modern clan leaders, probably because of the traitors._

 _There were some technical difficulties with the file and keeping the versions straight, so I'm_ hoping _this has all the current edits..._

* * *

"I don't know what _you're_ supposed to teach me," Rael said, twirling a hand with a movement that should have seemed idle, but Takeo had seen him summon Grandia.

"Honestly?" Takeo smiled. "I think it's because I only just now noticed myself. I'm sure he wanted us to help each other figure it out, so he didn't have to teach both of us separately."

"Hmph," Rael said, but seemed to accept that. "He is training me in how to analyze information myself. So I'm supposed to listen to your reports, then."

Well, no, if it was that, Frankenstein would be pairing the noble with Tao. Then again, if Tao was too energetic for Raizel? Takeo wouldn't want Tao and Rael in the same place without someone to keep Tao from… either provoking Rael or taking a page from Regis' book and manipulating him. Rael's buttons were big, red and easy to push, and Tao was a tactician as well as their electronics specialist. Show him a keyboard like that, and he wouldn't be able to keep himself from experimenting with all the buttons until he knew how to work it.

"What was that about you and Miss Seira?" Rael asked immediately after deciding that he was going to ask the enhanced human _anything_. Or rather demanded with a glare, because he had a soul weapon and was very willing to stab Takeo with it. The Kertia clan was the assassin clan, and Rael knew where Takeo slept.

"We were both trying to be calm and in the moment. When I sat down, I was thinking about the fact that it's always calming when _he's_ there, isn't it?"

Rael nodded.

Takeo closed his eyes, smiling softly. "Just looking at him is calming, but I noticed that I still felt his calm even when I wasn't looking at him. I thought _he_ was radiating calm, like a fireplace radiating heat, and then I noticed that he _was_. And so was Miss Seira. Frankenstein noticed me looking at him. When I've meditated with the Noblesse, I've tried to imitate that serenity." Takeo looked back up to meet Rael's eyes and frowned. There was a strange look in the noble's eyes. 'Was something wrong?' he asked with a tilt of his head.

Rael seemed to jerk awake, glare advertising that it was a very good thing for Takeo that he, a mere human, hadn't implied that a Kertia pureblood might _not_ be okay. "So I should have been imitating his master's composure instead of Frankenstein's composure? But I have to stand guard: I have to remain alert for dangers." Dangers like, oh, _enhanced humans_ , added his glare.

Takeo looked thoughtfully off to the side, pretending not to notice Rael's clear suspicion. "As a sniper, I had to focus on the target, but I also had to be aware of my surroundings in case anyone was about to locate me, and I had to listen and respond promptly to orders."

"Is that why Frankenstein never lets me do things one at a time? When I'm reading one of those letters, I have to think about three more things I need to do with what I'm reading," Rael griped, folding his arms.

Takeo nodded. "It's called multitasking. It's very important in combat."

That got Rael's attention.

"Doesn't your family have to think about both remaining undetected and killing the enemy at the same time?"

Judging from the look on Rael's face, he hadn't, but he wasn't prepared to admit that.

"What I think Frankenstein wanted me to learn is that now that I'm… sensing people, is there some way I can use that power without being intrusive? It's a power that nobles have had a lot longer than humans, so even if you weren't trained in how to read people like that, you might have a head start figuring it out on me."

"Reading _people?"_ Rael asked incredulously. Not just surprise that it was possible, but the same disgusted disbelief the Union gave Regis, who just could not understand why on earth anyone would possibly have the bad taste to want to do things like _that_.

Takeo remembered that the Central Order Knight hadn't had any idea his mind control hadn't worked, and neither had Regis when he tried it on Frankenstein and Raizel.

Did the younger nobles really not know that they could sense things like this?

"Perhaps we can start with you teaching me what you know? Maybe then I'll be able to explain it better." When Rael was able to freeze almost the entire school, and evacuate the area he planned to fight Regis, he must have been taught something about his powers.

"Reading human minds might be possible when you're so weak, but if Miss Seira and Sir Cadis Etrama di Raizel were doing something for my benefit and I didn't even notice…" Judging from his expression, Rael didn't quite want to admit that might be true, but he also didn't want to assume that the human was making fun of him and miss out. "Frankenstein ordered me to help evacuate the humans the next time there's a fight. If you can take care of it, then I can join Miss Seira more quickly. At least that way you'd be some help, even without a soul weapon."

* * *

Rael didn't have the temperament for a teacher, that was obvious, but it might have been Takeo's fault he grew frustrated so quickly.

It was just as easy for Takeo to reach into someone's mind as it was to feel the emotions they were broadcasting – of course, that would probably change the instant Rael raised his mental defenses. But what came as second nature to Takeo was all wrong according to Rael. "Try reaching for my memories instead… you can't even do that?"

"I'm sorry," Takeo said. "I sensed emotions first: maybe that's what comes easiest to me?"

"Reaching for someone else's emotions is…" Rael's eyes widened and he glanced around, shutting up before he could say anything along the lines of 'exactly what you'd expect from a disgusting human toy' anywhere Frankenstein might possibly hear him. "It's the exact same thing every time! How are you not doing it on purpose?"

Seeing Rael angry and frustrated with him, Takeo felt himself reaching again. Trying to, wanting to do something about that. Get him to calm down, make him feel better. Like patting him on the shoulder.

This time, instead of saying 'No, stop doing that!' Rael let it connect, and let out a huff, still annoyed but somewhat mollified.

Was it instinct to reach for emotions because Rael was upset? Blinking, Takeo realized the contact between them was still there, Rael hadn't brushed his metaphorical hand away. Maybe… If he tried reaching from there to what Rael wanted him to do?

He was supposed to try to make the noble leave the room, so… make him want to leave?

This time, the resistance was rock-solid, Rael refusing to budge just because some enhanced human wanted him to move. "Well at least you're trying to do what I told you to do, even if you're going about it all wrong," Rael said. "Changing someone's will is not proper conduct, even if they're Union." But, from that glare, Rael wasn't going to expect better from an enhanced human like Takeo.

Then Takeo found himself looking at a wall. He blinked, and turned around to see Rael. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch what you did."

"Obviously not, they aren't supposed to notice… Oh." Right. This time, Takeo felt Rael reaching not for _Takeo_ , but for his body. The mental impulses that told his legs to move, his body to turn around. Not controlling every step like a puppet – that would explain how Rael could evacuate so many people at once when they needed to do different things to leave their buildings, instead of all of them performing the exact same motions! – but Takeo's body knew what it needed to do in order to turn around. Had the people Rael evacuated just driven home on autopilot, the same thing they did every day?

This time, instead of reaching for the sense of _Rael,_ Takeo tried to reach for his body. Cerebellum? It wasn't any use, it felt like his hand passed through empty air, until it reached and wrapped around the… something that was Rael. His soul? Takeo frowned. "Let me try to find it."

"Letting an enhanced human rummage around in my soul…" The noble glowered but permitted it.

Rael was still simmering with irritation, and even knowing that it was beyond rude, it was instinct for Takeo to try to placate him.

"Stop that!" Rael said testily.

Takeo felt himself do it again, in response to feeling that the noble was angry with him. "I'm not doing it on purpose. I'm trying to reach for what you showed me, but every time I sense that you're angry, this power acts on its own. Like a reflex."

"Reflex… You mean you _have_ trained this power before? Oh." Rael blinked. "Humans have reflexes without training them? Your bodies just… do things you haven't decided to do?"

"You just made me move twice without my conscious mind deciding to move," Takeo reminded him, cocking his head to the side, feeling his hair fall and create a breeze against his white dress shirt. "If nobles _don't_ do that, is that why I can't find anything but your conscious mind?" But then, how had Rael practiced reaching for something nobles didn't have with another member of the Kertia?

"You keep going straight for my emotions, ignoring everything else."

"But once I've grabbed hold there, I can reach for other parts of your mind?" Takeo frowned, trying to show Rael that he was trying to figure this out too, instead of being deliberately difficult. "But the instant I sense certain emotions from you, all of my focus goes back to your emotions. It was different when you trained?"

"Targeting a certain part of the mind is difficult. It takes decades of practice aiming to do it consistently, and reach the desired piece without touching one of the things that will alert them to your presence," Rael said. "That's why it's important to reach for something they may not be paying attention to when you're learning. You should be aiming for the body like Regis, but you're reaching for the part that any noble is going to defend. Why would you reach for something when we're going to know that you're there, unless you take over? But humans aren't strong enough to take over a noble's mind, or change our will enough we _want_ you there, making us like you." Rael's grimace was pure eww.

Takeo frowned. Did that mean 'making nobles more like humans' or 'making nobles _like_ humans?' Was that what this power was trying to do? Keep Rael placated so the noble didn't turn him into mincemeat with that soul weapon?

Frankenstein valued people's free wills – he wouldn't have designed Takeo's powers to do that, right? Especially when Takeo would be fighting the Union, and most of them weren't going to spare someone just because they liked them. It wouldn't be effective. "Perhaps it's because you're a noble that this is the only part I can find until I'm already in your mind. Do you think we should ask Frankenstein?"

"I'm not going to him the first time I have a hard time." From that red-eyed glower, Takeo could tell the rest of that thought 'and how you can't do anything right even when that would make _me_ look bad.' "Obviously not, when I'm here to learn how to analyze you humans." So Rael would figure this out on his own.

Takeo hid a smile and didn't mention any resemblance to Regis.

"Perhaps a noble mind _is_ too difficult for you to grasp. Maybe with another human you'll be able to find the right things so you don't give yourself away and get stabbed."

* * *

Sangeen and Yonsu were the first to the meeting site – they usually were. After seeing Tao's tactics against Cerberus, Sangeen was aware that it was a courtesy to send the KSA the location and let them arrive early to scout and be certain there weren't listening devices or traps.

"It's so that they can jump in from out of our detection range and make flashy entrances," Yonsu said, because wasn't it obvious?

Yeah, that was another reason. "Tao might be a lot more powerful than we are, but he's still mission control, Yonsu. And they're fighting people stronger than _they_ are. The KSA is still occasionally contacted by the Union." That was their job, being at least some thin buffer between their country and the Union. They had to do what they could even if they weren't strong enough to fight the Union. "We're not the only ones who have to be concerned about an ambush."

"No," Yonsu corrected him, " _they_ are the only ones who have to be concerned about an ambush. They don't need to ambush us. They have the power to take over the KSA any time they want." Just like the Union had.

The Chairman had flat out admitted it… and said he wouldn't because it wasn't worth the extra work.

"I can't stand having to be grateful that we're a waste of their time," Yonsu said, baring her teeth.

"Yonsu…"

"I'm not saying they're being insulting, I'm saying it's true! Research that can create enhanced humans like them, enough power that people who don't have to be afraid of the Union taking over their country have to take him seriously…" It was the KSA that was a national organization, with a country's resources! They should have had those capabilities. It was maddening how effectively the Union had managed to keep them from having a prayer of fighting back.

"Shut your mouth!" they heard someone order them, voice full of anger and contempt.

They whirled, Sangeen ready to summon energy knives, to see a teenager in pinstripes, his arms folded and red eyes glowing. Another noble? "You think we're safe and can spend all the energy we want on _you?_ The Union's fleet _fired_ on Lukedonia and killed some of Mergas' guard, then even dared to land troops a month ago! A century ago, the traitor clan leaders in the Union wiped out all of Miss Seira's clan, and most of that brat Regis'! As for the enhanced humans you think are so strong, those brats needed _him_ to spend his lifeforce to save them, and the Chairman is watching his master die, while you parasites think that you're entitled to our protection when it's you humans who founded the Union!"

They hadn't heard the noble arrive, but this time they heard someone landing on the ground behind them. "…You'll have to excuse Rael." When they turned to see the sniper from Ye Ran's school security, a moment after Takeo smiled at them in greeting, the noble blurred to place himself three paces in front of Takeo, and one to Takeo's left.

It ended up looking not like he was guarding the enhanced human, but the enhanced human was there as his retainer or staff.

The gunman's calm didn't seem ruffled by the noble treating him as a subordinate, but again he was used to Tao. And when someone like the _Chairman_ called a noble Master…

"Agents Sangeen Ahn and Yonsu Na of the KSA, this is Rael Kertia," Takeo said, nodding towards the noble, "a pureblooded member of the Kertia Clan and younger brother of Lukedonia's Minister of Intelligence Sir Rajak Kertia, head of Clan Kertia. While Rael's actions always reflect on the Kertia Clan-" Takeo's polite smile didn't waver, but that had to be a reminder to Rael, "-he is not in South Korea as a representative of Lukedonia. The Lord granted Sir Rajak's request for his brother to be apprenticed to Chairman Lee, so he is currently a member of our household. The Chairman told me to tell you to direct any complaints to Tao, not Miss Seira."

" _Sir_ Seira J. Loyard," Rael corrected him, turning to look at him.

"My apologies," Takeo said, smiling, and it wasn't hard to tell he was humoring the noble, just a little. "But to be sure I'm using the proper courtesies, not Lady Seira?"

" _Lady_ Seira?" The noble took a step back in shock, face pale. "That's the same thing as Lord! Even the _traitors_ wouldn't dare… Implying that Seira would…"

Takeo winced. "Good thing I clarified that now."

"Right," Rael said, calming down. "Weak trash like this doesn't matter, but what if you said that in front of the clan leaders? My brother might kill you for the insult to the Lord, and my brother doesn't want to offend someone our father acknowledged, even if Frankenstein is a human. For it to happen over another human toy…"

Yonsu's eyes narrowed. "Human _toy_?"

Rael flushed: at least he had the grace to realize those words were offensive as hell, but, "Well, that's what they were to the Union! You humans keep letting the Union toy with you, letting them use you to kill the people who protected you!"

Takeo cleared his throat. " _He_ asked me to tell him if you were behaving with the proper courtesies," he said apologetically. "You know I can't lie to _him."_

Rael blanched again, then straightened. "Tell me when I _have_ to come back and talk to these humans," he said, and vanished.

" _That_ was a noble?" Yonsu asked, eyebrow raised. He couldn't be more different from the three Sangeen had observed in class.

Takeo's face grew more serious. "He was orphaned at a young age and has his reasons to hate anything to do with the Union, and most enhanced humans are Union, but that doesn't excuse his behavior." He frowned, looking sad for a moment, before his eyes hardened like a soldier giving a report. What was his position before he left the Union, an enhanced human like this? "The Kertia and the Landegre were the clans who handled most noble affairs in the outside world until the Landegre were attacked. Rael's spent a hundred years knowing the Kertia Clan was the Union's next logical target, and his brother isn't much older than Rael is. Even when Rael was convinced he didn't care anything about human lives, he still used his power to evacuate the area before getting into a fight." Takeo bowed formally. "You're enhanced humans, but you weren't made by the Union and you're determined to protect your country. Like the Kertia."

"We're not here to assist you with some kid's therapy. I thought this was about…" Sangeen saw light dawn in Yonsu's eyes. "You're telling me he's the new emergency asset?" The reason they were called out here?

Takeo nodded. "Officially _I_ am, but Rael is training me and since he'll be accompanying me, if you could also train him in whatever procedures you work out… We don't know when, or where, the next attack will come, and if I'm free to help with evacuations, my first priority would have to be the school."

At this point, it was almost a surprise to find out that one among that bunch was sane, practical and willing to actually communicate with them.

"The Chairman also asked us to help you train your mental defenses."

"That would be a help," Sangeen said, more than a little relieved after that last conversation with this bunch. "Our doctor didn't know much about what he was talking about." What he'd said, and the implications! They needed that kind of knowledge for the KSA to get the power to protect their country, and couldn't dare try to take it. Not with someone like Tao on the other side, just casually mentioning that he was going to be keeping an eye on them because it really would be _not good_ if the Chairman caught them stealing from him and he wouldn't want Sangeen going and getting himself killed after going to all that trouble to rescue him from Cerberus, right?

"There are two kinds of mental attack you need to worry about," Takeo said, looking off into the distance over the side of the rooftop. "Humans and nobles have different styles of mind control. Human-style is… I suppose I can understand how the Chairman didn't know. He's not someone who would ever think of doing something like that, and he was fighting nobles, not other human psychics. How human powers work is… Something everyone needs to know about, if the Union can make someone like Yuri. If Rael said that humans were parasites… I can't really say that he's wrong." The modified human shook his head. "No, if the Chairman already knew he wouldn't have put Rael in a position to find out."

"When he already didn't like humans much," Sangeen said, frowning. This was getting worrying. "Yuri, the blond with Cerberus? Always smiling, was trying to rein the rest of them in a little?"

Takeo's head snapped towards him, eyes focusing. "You didn't think he was on your side, did you?"

Both of them stared at him. What? Yuri was _Union_. While Yonsu was still staring at him, because _what the_ , Sangeen scowled. "We were ants. He just had something else to use a magnifying glass on."

Takeo winced, but still looked a little relieved. "That's the Union… Yuri was infiltrating and then backstabbing different factions in the Union because he could make them trust him and think he'd been on their side all along. Noble mind control overrides someone's will and emotions. They can order you not to move, or breathe, or remember what happened, but they don't change anything. You saw Shinwoo Han fight?"

"He's good," Yonsu said.

"He's fought for his life, and other people's lives, against enhanced humans," Takeo said, shocking both of them. He smiled at them apologetically. "Out of all the children in the school, you had to pick two of the ones who were already endangered because of us. We're all very protective of those kids."

They remembered M-21 demanding _how could they_ take away those kids' chance at a normal life. A 'safe' life. And even if that was an illusion, if this country could be taken over by the Union at any time and without KSA agents _none_ of them were safe, it was still that which made Sangeen and Yonsu accept leaving enhanced humans in a school.

But even if these three weren't there to endanger the kids, he and Yonsu were right, too. Just having enhanced humans somewhere put them in danger from the Union.

"He's fought enhanced humans?" Yonsu asked, folding her arms skeptically.

"They were only toying with him," Takeo said. "But he still tried, and had that experience. Watching him, I think the memories are still there where he can use them, but he can't get at them or the Union would take him. It was the Chairman who did it, but he still learned his techniques based on nobles. Noble psychic powers can flood someone else's mind with their emotions, but they don't _change_ the target's emotions. The Chairman agrees that since it comes naturally to humans, it would have been easy for the Union to stumble across the capability in one of the mass series tests."

The ones where they kidnapped a hundred people at a time and odds were that none of those poor bastards were going to make it out of the lab alive. Not that it was that much better for them to emerge indoctrinated to serve the bastards who kidnapped them, help the Union oppress humanity.

The KSA and other agencies had scrambled for any information they could get. They'd known that nobles existed: the Union was gearing up for a war with them, and that meant propaganda. Propaganda wasn't _meant_ to be secret, it only worked if it was big and obvious… and probably the Union wanted it to leak, to remind everyone that if the Union could conquer a country of _gods_ , then they could walk all over any human nation that got uppity.

Mind control was supposed to be one of the capabilities of nobles (or noblesse, or vampires – Lukedonia's representative had said they preferred to be called nobles), but if the Union might be able to brainwash people into loyalty without hauling them into a lab first?

Yonsu cursed, taking the words right out of her husband's mouth.

"Yeah," Sangeen agreed. "We need a way to counter that." _Yesterday_.

* * *

"Sangeen," said his old friend Takeo. "Agent Sangeen An. Can you tell me what's wrong with this picture?"

Well, that was obvious. "You're better at handling a gun than this." Pointing it at someone's head was _no_ , even if of course Takeo would have made sure it was unloaded in advance.

Takeo frowned and tried again. "I need you to try to think, okay? Focus. Something's not right."

Oh this had to be… it was some kind of training exercise.

"If I asked you to take this gun from me, point it at your head, and pull the trigger, would you do it?" Takeo asked.

"…For purposes of the demonstration?"

"Good, you're remembering that this is a demonstration… at least I hope that's good, instead of the mind coming up with justifications for doing what it wants to do…"

"I thought you had some idea of what you were doing?" Yonsu demanded.

"It's probably a better idea that I don't," Takeo said apologetically. "I'm not very strong yet, and your husband is an enhanced human, so I think this is his best chance of pushing through. If he can't, then I can call home. I'm probably missing something obvious – the Chairman wouldn't have sent us without a warning if the most obvious practice was going to do permanent damage." He turned back to Sangeen. "Imagine it's not a demonstration. If I handed you my gun, loaded, and told you to shoot yourself in the head…" What then?

The Union. His wife. His country. "I'd rather make sure my body's destroyed, but it's better than being taken alive."

"Are you kidding me?"

"I barely… Oh," Takeo realized, slit-pupiled eyes blinking. He looked sad and distant for a moment, and Sangeen wanted to say something to cheer him up. "He crushed Tao's communication device so we wouldn't try to save him, even though that could have diverted the Union's attention from the KSA, and you, to us." He met Sangeen's eyes again. "We _need_ you to snap out of this," Takeo told him. "Something's wrong. I'm not your partner, I'm not your wife, I'm not even from your country even though I live here. I may have helped save your life, but I'm an ex-Union assassin who works for a mad scientist who jokes about killing and replacing a branch of your government. And nonhumans. With mind control powers."

That made his brow wrinkle, even though he was trying not to do that. He already looked way too much older than Yonsu because of some complications with the modifications. Was Takeo saying they were on the same side, or they couldn't trust him?

But if the Union could impersonate M-24 well enough to confuse people like _them_ , then Takeo could be replaced, or even Yonsu. They'd come up with protocols for that tactic: he had to keep an eye on Yonsu, because spotting it would be the only chance of getting her back. If Takeo… but he wouldn't be the best choice for spotting Takeo, he had his own team… "Right, got it," he said, rubbing his face. "Instant ' _of course'_ I know you and can trust you. Won't be hard to spot it again. You're sure that's what that Yuri used, though? I thought they didn't trust anybody in the Union, wouldn't it have stuck out like a sore thumb?"

"I was trying to make it obvious," Takeo said, relaxing a little. "I just hope you can learn to spot it when it's not ham-handed. I haven't tried this on anyone but Rael and Tao, but… I hope that was too easy. I know the Chairman said that even the Union's enhanced humans would be helpless if pureblood nobles tried to infiltrate and assassinate them, but that was…"

"You're modified for this and I'm not. An enhanced human versus an unenhanced human, of course it's not a fair fight," Sangeen said, shrugging, because life sucked and the Union were bastards keeping everyone else easy prey. "So that kid's an evacuation asset because he can make everyone listen to him when he tells them to leave?"

"He can make everyone feel his decision for them to leave, like it's their own will," Takeo said.

"And I guess he wants humans to get lost all the time, doesn't he?" Yonsu said, folding her arms. "I know all of this is the Union's fault, but you people are scary."

Takeo frowned, looking down as he tried to think of how to put something. "When we first met Rael, we were useless against him," he said, still looking thoughtful. "The Chairman thought our health was more important, so he barely enhanced our strength at all before the next time we fought Rael. We didn't win that second time, but with better tactics we pushed him hard enough to do something he did _not_ want to do, and we survived it, at least long enough for the Chairman and Sir Raizel to arrive. M-21 was part of a numbered series, but Tao and I were also created by the Union to be disposable. They thought we were weak… No, they _intended_ for us to be weak and helpless in the end, but we fought a pureblood noble with a soul weapon and lived.

"Then Miss Seira told us that the Chairman was human, and a _human_ like us once fought two noble clan leaders at once and survived. After that… we could believe that it was possible people like us could survive taking on Cerberus." Rescuing Sangeen. "To say that we're scary… Thank you," he said, smiling. "Someday, perhaps, we'll be able to scare the Union."

Wait. "You said you survived?" Sangeen asked, worried. "He tried to kill you?" It was one thing to be concerned for an ally, and worried that the noble was potentially dangerous. It was different to hear that an old friend nearly died – he was still reacting that way to Takeo, even though he knew to watch it.

Takeo shrugged. "When you meet an enhanced human, isn't the natural assumption that they're from the Union?"

Yonsu nodded, conceding his point.

"He was friends with Regis and Miss Seira when their families were slaughtered by the Union. I can understand why he wasn't happy to come here and find enhanced humans anywhere near them." Takeo winced. "And we should have listened to the Chairman. Enhanced humans appearing in Lukedonia at the same time as Sir Raizel can't have helped."

Well, this was an opportunity for Intel. "Helped?"

"The treason charges. The Union framed Sir Raizel, claimed that he was the ringleader of the traitor nobles, when they thought he was too dead to defend himself. He went to Lukedonia with the Chairman to clear matters up and assist Miss Seira and Regis' grandfather, but we were worried about them and stowed away." He winced again, embarrassed in hindsight. "They might have thought _he_ was leading a Union invasion. Maybe they did think that at some point, before it was straightened out. There was a great deal of confusion, which was probably the idea," he realized. "They must have wanted to pit the Lord and Noblesse against each other, if the Noblesse did return. The same way they accused the Chairman of all sorts of crimes hoping the nobles would take him out for them. Thank goodness everything was straightened out before the Union fleet saw that the barrier was down and tried to invade with unenhanced troops."

"What happened?" Yonsu chimed in.

So _this_ was why they normally didn't meet with Takeo without Tao, M-21 or both there. The man definitely was the type to answer questions helpfully – and they were intelligence agents. It was their job to take advantage of that. Even with allies. The better intel you had on your allies, the lower the risk of a misunderstanding causing the alliance to break.

He still felt a little bad about taking advantage of Takeo being a nice guy. Damn. Hopefully it'd wear off soon. Or maybe he should hope the effect lasted long enough for their doctor to get some data off him on it.

Takeo sighed. "The Central Order Knights wiped their memories of Lukedonia so they couldn't give intelligence to the Union and sent them back, I'm afraid. I wish those people didn't end up back in the hands of the Union, but I can't blame the Lord. What would they have done with those people if they kept them? They have a clinic for treating humans who fall through when there's a glitch in the dimensional barrier, but what could they have done with prisoners indoctrinated enough to think they could conquer nobles without enhanced humans?"

Sangeen had done enough training exercises as the KSA tried to develop anti-enhanced human tactics to know just how crazy that was, and their exercises were many against one (or two) opponents of Sangeen's caliber, because that was all they had. Unenhanced humans against a _trained military unit_ of nobles much stronger than he was, with probably centuries of experience? When Lukedonia must have known an invasion was coming for a century, the way South Korea knew it was only a matter of time?

Throwing human lives into a meat grinder: that was the Union for you.

"Can't they just…" Yonsu gestured at her head.

"'We don't fear eternal sleep: we only fear being forced to do things against our wills,'" Takeo quoted someone. "The nobles who aren't traitors have very strict laws about mind control. To nobles, what Rael does is different in a way that's immediately obvious to them, but anyone who tampers with or restricts someone else's will is eliminated. The mind control that comes naturally to humans is will-tampering by noble standards – I'd have to be enhanced to be more like a noble to use whatever Rael's using."

So humans could be made more like nobles, the way the Union used genes from other species. Not that they had much of a prayer of getting a sample from the nobles without being obvious about it. They'd managed to get Lukedonia's ambassador to accept refreshments on a later visit to negotiate with the KSA, and nothing. Whatever nobles were, they didn't shed dead cells. That would make sense if their cells were immortal as they were. If they even had cells.

If Rael was going to be coming to the new building, they'd have the opportunity for some discrete scans – the budget they'd gotten was enough for all the bells and whistles. Which made sense if they were telling the truth, and they wanted the KSA able to protect their country and its civilians.

"The Chairman wouldn't like that – he loathes the idea that humans are weak, so the only way to be strong is to abandon humanity. The Union told us that failures are failures, that the strong are superior, but they lie. If you think that we're worth being scared of, then that just proves that they're wrong. About us, about you. The Union tries to make us believe that strength makes them untouchable, but they tried to trick others into killing the Chairman and Sir Raizel for them. If strong people can still be harmed by the 'weak,' then the Union can be brought down no matter how strong they claim to be."

Takeo closed his eyes, and when they opened Sangeen saw a hard light in them, and knew that he was looking at the assassin the Union manufactured, their own crime determined to come back to haunt them. "I may be weaker than the Elders, but that doesn't mean that I am inferior to them. They tried to make me forget that people's lives aren't worthless: we will make them remember it."

* * *

 _Takeo's being overly forgiving/making too many excuses for Rael's behavior here, but Rael has the rest of the household trying to make him grow the heck up or else, so it's good to give him some evidence that once he does grow the heck up people will actually forgive him and give him the time of day - Seira's a lost cause, he's rubbed dead family in her face for his own profit way too many times. Rai is also doing his best to help Rael become someone he doesn't need to execute- it would have been good if he could do more than interrogate the clan leaders all those times they visited (eg. give parenting advice)._

 _Humans and nobles are both psychic, but humans need to worry about calorie expenditures and starving to death. So noble psychic control could function by broadcasting a stronger signal, while humans just don't have that kind of energy to spare. Think shotgun vs. scalpel._

 _The need to conserve energy is responsible for a couple other quirks of natural human abilities referenced in the fic – nobles emit energy that can be sensed over reasonable distances. Using our energy fields to tap that energy was a lot more efficient than generating it ourselves. This means that human psychic communication is a lot more powerful with a noble in range to take advantage of… and energy can be absorbed as well as reflected, so having a noble nearby would boost everyone's healing factor, not just that of their contractors. This fits nicely with the three species using energy in different ways, and that speciality also lets us get more power out of contracts, another example of humans evolving in response to how nobles were part of our environment._

 _This would explain why Shinwoo's eyes look like they're glowing in one panel of a later fight scene - he's a martial artist, and he's been sitting in class with three nobles for weeks. By this point he's built up one heck of a charge, and while he can only channel so much of it at once, at minimum it means he can perform at the limit of what the human body is capable of without his body breaking down (thanks to the healing factor). So his abilities are beyond what the Union would be expecting, but not to the point where it'd do them any good to haul him into a lab. He's_ not _modified, this is just what baseline humans can do plugged into a power grid._

 _However, when one species evolves to take advantage of the presence of another species in their environment and that species goes extinct, it is_ very bad _. When the nobles left, humanity took a hit to our ability to communicate with each other (and get along), our lifespans (people accumulate knowledge and skills) and our_ disease resistance _(early cities were death sinks without the germ theory of disease). In-universe, look for a century when every single early civilization broke down worldwide, and you'd have when the nobles were ordered to Lukedonia. This fed into the 'the humans need (to be ruled by) us' mindset of some. Because without nobles around, it turned out humans were a hell of a lot more likely to have communications break down and start killing each other. However, that's certainly not because a species specializing in cooperation needs a species that didn't go and_ ask _the Previous Lord why_ _he was doing all that to tell us how to do our thing._


	15. Emotional Support

_I have been asked my opinion of the Rai's Adventure sidestory. It contains a small human tugging at Rai's sleeve_.

* * *

"He's not… here?" Regis stared at Frankenstein's place at the table with one of his many 'what' expressions. This one was 'this can't be right' with a hint of 'something's wrong,' instead of 'what are you smoking,' 'you can't be serious,' or Tao's favorite, the confuzzled look the little noble got when he was completely lost at sea.

"He's still down in the lab," Tao said, tapping his leg nervously. This wasn't a training trip or when he was off secretly laughing at Dr. Aris. Maybe he'd just gotten wrapped up in some treatment he couldn't get away from? Even for dinner? But not to miss dinner because it was important to the houseowner was the second rule M-21 gave them when they moved in!

Was this Tao's fault for letting Takeo practice on him to try to get info on Takeo's new capabilities, and then letting them demonstrate for the Boss with that scanner? Boss… might as well have pushed them out of the lab and Takeo and Rael over to the KSA. Tao should have gone with them (it was Rael, and Takeo), but with Boss acting weird… And now late for dinner!

Raizel put down his cup of tea with a clink that shouldn't have sounded so loud. He pulled his cellphone out of his pocket and began to type, face stern, focused and dignified.

It would have been more reassuring if Tao wasn't pretty close to certain that was Raizel's 'worried this is not going to go well' expression instead of one of his 'Frankenstein's being himself again' expressions (maybe one of subcategories 'not sure if this is a case of humans being incomprehensible alien lifeforms or it's just Frankenstein' or 'as the Noblesse I'm supposed to punish those who pick on the weak so it would be nice if my own Bonded would _stop picking battles of wits with the_ _unarmed_ , it puts me in a difficult position'). A preemptive 'I meant to do that' or looking like someone no one would dare to question. Way too dignified to question, but the small details of Raizel's expression gave him away when you knew what to look for.

What also helped ruin the effect was that Tao had seen how cute Raizel's texts were. Chatspeak and Textspeak were languages and he must have picked them up from the kids. Of course, noble elegance meant Raizel wasn't going to use _imperfect_ language, like deliberate misspellings, but getting into the records of 'Master' and 'Franken's' texts back and forth was… He guessed 'short and sweet' was the elegant form of texting with proper courtesies?

Raizel put the phone back as Seira put his ramyeon in front of him and sat back to let the noodles soak up more broth and expand. All utterly composed, as usual, but it wasn't helping the expressions around the room. Rael and Takeo weren't back yet – Frankenstein had said that giving the KSA enough information and training they could start trying to come up with something useful was urgent enough to justify missing dinner.

He'd known that was a red flag, but one this big?

"I don't want to spy on Boss…" Tao started to say finally, because the thing was that he _really_ wanted to except for the fact he also wanted to live.

That was when Raizel stood up, and from the way M-21's eyes widened, Tao was right about that particular expression. "The door will not open for me," Raizel said to the air. "I do not wish to break Frankenstein's things when he is upset."

"Gotcha!" Tao said, and ran for the elevator.

* * *

Raizel didn't pause when the door opened and revealed the ruined lab, just kept walking into the center of it. The rest of them, even Seira, needed a moment to process the wreckage. " _Kneel,"_ Raizel said, eyes glowing.

The command and the weight of that will weren't directed at him, but Tao's own knees really wanted to hit the ground in self-defense. Even the Union admitted that nobles were once worshipped as gods, and if that was true then Raizel was _Tao's_ god, and his god was _angry_.

' _Mommy and daddy are fighting again_ ,' Tao thought inanely, desperately trying to turn this into a joke, except he'd _never_ seen these two fight. He didn't remember his own parents, but for Raizel to be angry, not with someone from the Union but one of _them_ , and _Frankenstein_ to wreck his own lab?

Wrong, wrong _wrong._ It felt like the world was broken, just when he'd thought that maybe it wasn't. Tao wanted to jump in there, talking a mile a minute, but he did not want Raizel to look at him the way he'd looked at that door, an obstacle that _would_ be removed, for getting between him and his Bonded. Too late, anyway.

Raizel had cast Krans down, put him in his place for thinking that the weak were his to toy with, to _consume_ , but Frankenstein's place was by his Master's side _._ If it weren't for the flash of Frankenstein's dark aura Tao would have sworn he'd been teleported instead of compelled there, on one knee instead of two. Frankenstein's body was pulled up towards Raizel to meet his gaze as the Noblesse turned to regard him, raised up by Raizel's will from where he'd lain collapsed on the ground.

"Master I… _I deserve to die."_

If Raizel wasn't a noble (like, a dignified noble, not a kid like Regis or Rael), then judging from that expression, he might have asked if Frankenstein was fucking kidding him. " _I have not given you permission to die_."

"How can I live with myself?" the scientist begged. "Doing something so vile to _anyone_ , but to _you…"_

"I am the True Noblesse. I am the Protector of the Nobles, the Judge of the Clan Leaders and the Reminder to the Lord. Do you think me incapable of blocking the power of a youth barely past his majority?"

Frankenstein buried his head in his hands, heedless of the blood on them, trapped under his fingernails.

Again, the most powerful of the nobles was _not amused._ "You no longer have my permission to look away from me."

Blue eyes empty of all but pain and guilt were trapped by glowing red narrowed in judgment.

"You fear that you have harmed me? You drew my blood once and only once, on the night I Awakened you," Raizel stated. "The Previous Lord bore witness to my choice and accepted it as my will."

"So Dark Spear did get an attack through your guard," Frankenstein whispered, broken. His shoulders slumped, and he looked like he would have collapsed to the floor if Raizel hadn't ordered him to kneel. "And soon thereafter you awakened me? Is that how I repaid the sanctuary you gave me, by stealing your will and life to save myself?"

"You dare insult my choice?"

Tao heard the sound of skin smacking skin beside him, and was able to pull his eyes away from the scene long enough to see that Regis had slammed his hands over his mouth, eyes wide in horror.

Right, if Tao knew anything about nobles, and you bet he'd done his best to figure out how to manipulate beings that could squash him, then that was _beyond_ the kind of trash talk M-21 and Regis would use to make people like Rael lose their heads. The part of Tao that told Takeo that really crude Korean phrases were innocent compliments because it was funny insisted on translating what Raizel just said out of Noble-speak as 'You said _what_ about my mother?'

Did Noblesse _have_ mothers? The other nobles had clans with similar powers, but there was only one Noblesse. Seira said that Raizel's powers were a lot like the Lord's – except according to Gejutel, his own blood and soul were his soul weapon, and he couldn't use the Lord's soul weapon.

Tao hoped he never had to see Ragnarok in action. Well, maybe through satellite photos. Gejutel said it was another name that came from what humans thought about something. The damage from soul weapon fights was bad enough without a weapon whose name came from _collateral damage,_ or 'The gods are fighting and _we're all going to die_.'

The noble Lords fought with _world-ending_ collateral damage.

Which made it kind of obvious why the old Lord split Ragnarok, if you thought about it. Especially when soul weapons got more powerful with each generation and the good nobles really hated humans getting killed. Enough that was what killed the Landegre and Loyard. If Raskreia was _more_ powerful than her dad, would she even be able to fight without wrecking her country? But, if she didn't have to worry about killing her own people, then she could go to town.

Tao _hoped_ the people who pinned the blame for what they did on Raizel found that out the hard way. Ragar did all that stuff with splitting his soul weapon to be sure both his kids were protected: when the Previous Lord was so worried about Raskreia doing okay, there was no way he hadn't set up something for her just as elaborate as sticking half of a soul weapon in Raizel's shine.

Anyway, Raizel didn't get angry; other people got dead. Most of the time he was laid back drinking tea, and then 'Excuse me, did you just say the strong have the right to kill the weak anytime they feel like it? Alright, _have it your way,_ ' and then the blood field went up and somebody wasn't even a smear on the pavement.

If Tao knew what happened when Raizel got like this, then Frankenstein _had_ to know. It was when Tao saw that Frankenstein was looking up at the Noblesse with calm eyes full of relief instead of sensible terror or quick calculation, without a trace of the will to _fight_ that he started breathing faster, on the verge of panic, because this wasn't Frankenstein being a perfectionist and getting overdramatic when some tiny thing went wrong. He really did think that Raizel was going to kill him and he was grateful? He wasn't going to fight it? If even the threat of imminent death wasn't enough to make him try to save himself, then who _could_ save him? There wasn't anyone who could stop Boss or _him_ except the other one!

"Your soul sensed mine and came to me for refuge," Raizel reminded Frankenstein. "I watched you deduce the magnitude of my power, and instead of fleeing from an enemy you could not fight, you gave me your name and did me the honor of remaining under my roof, trusting in my honor."

"But I did not. I tried to compel you." Boss looked so agonized, and Frankenstein could stand there wreathed in Dark Spear and not show pain.

"Compel me? And wager your pride as a human on your ability to maintain control over the Lord's peer every hour of every day for ten years, while you exhausted your strength fighting Gejutel, Ragar and Dark Spear." Hahaha: _No_.

Right, right, Tao knew. Frankenstein wasn't that stupid, and Raizel had known him for _years._

Frankenstein's smile was pale and false. "The fact that my subconscious was just begging for you to be forced to kill me or take my blood in order to free yourself does not help, Master. Apparently I'm an idiot as well as a monster."

The look Raizel gave him was disdainful. "The idea that you could sink to the level of the nobles you despised, remain in the home of the True Noblesse for ten years and still breathe… you _insult_ me, Frankenstein."

"Forgive me, Master," he said, almost reflexively, but Tao could finally see wheels turning behind his eyes.

Thank _god_. Or no, thank Boss. Or Boss' master.

"The Previous Lord did not call you to answer for the accusations against you because the fact you still breathed was proof of your innocence. To care for someone is to place their will above your own. It is my will that you stay with me, regardless of the cost to myself. It is your will that you die, rather than harm the innocent or myself. Is that understood?"

"…Yes, Master," Frankenstein said, and Tao watched his eyes soften and grow gentle with more than just relief. "I know that I can always rely on you." His shoulders straightened as the weight was lifted from them, and Tao wondered what it was like, for submission to be something that restored your dignity instead of stripping it from you. To have a master who was a source of honor instead of terror.

Raizel was still frowning down at him. He raised a hand and Frankenstein's clothes mended themselves, the blood was wiped from his face. "You were not talkative on the night you came to my home. You were trying to hide." So of course not. Raizel hesitated, but, "Humans were said to be talkative when they were pleased with the conduct of a noble." His tone was apologetic, probably because talkative was usually an insult for nobles. "I was aware that you did not know that you were being talkative, but you enjoyed making great amounts of noise and bothering the clan leaders in other ways." Frankenstein resembled that remark, Tao thought. "And I did not wish to imply that it was unwanted."

 _His_ frown deepened. "You give me your blood and then say that you are afraid that _you_ are compelling _me_ …"

"My apologies for being ridiculous, Master," Frankenstein said, reaching out to take Raizel's hand. He managed to smile. "After all, I am only human."

The Noblesse nodded regally. "I rely on your pride as a human. Your permission to do as you will is restored."

Frankenstein curled his fingers around those of Raizel's hand, and pressed his forehead to the back of that hand. They remained there, just like that.

For the sake of Frankenstein's dignity Raizel was probably putting extra effort into the appearance that this was the expected and proper response and in no way was Raizel internally asking himself what the especially-strange human he'd ended up stuck with was doing _now_ and what on earth it meant. What if it meant that the words hadn't worked and Frankenstein was still upset?

Tao was actually a little confused, because he'd been looking up that chivalry stuff and shouldn't the proper courtesy be kissing Raizel's ring? Oh, right, Frankenstein had that thing with germs. When the boss was already this wound up, the thought of someone getting their _saliva_ all over his poor master would probably make him scream bloody murder and then commit it.

Automatically, Tao added 'French kiss Raizel,' to the list of potential methods of temporarily incapacitating the Boss, should it ever become necessary, and then quickly amended that to 'have someone I don't like French kiss Raizel,' and cross-referenced it with assassination methods.

Something toppled over in the ruined lab with a clatter and a squelch, and they heard a groan. Tao turned around to see that Muzaka had fallen over the wreckage of his tube and the puddle of fluid that ran out if it when it broke. The werewolf's eyes opened, glowing white, and the groan turned into a rising growl as he pushed himself up from the rubble.

Raizel removed his right hand from Frankenstein's grasp, reached for the charm bracelet on his left wrist, snapped off one of the charms and swallowed it. The entire time he looked as if he was completely unhurried, not doing anything he didn't do on a daily basis and still one hundred percent _done_ with this day. His hand went up again, and a blood field sprang up around him. " _Sleep_ ," he ordered.

Muzaka fell over onto a pile of equipment. It went clang and clatter, and a broken scalpel went skittering across the floor.

Also standing up now, Frankenstein's hand hit his forehead before he removed it to bow formally. "My apologies, Master. How could I have let my lack of faith in you endanger your fri-" He stopped, seeing something in his master's expression.

"Frankenstein."

"Yes, Master?"

"My ramyeon is cold."

"Yes, Master."

Raizel walked past them without acknowledging Frankenstein's bow or the audience, with the air of complete certainty that before long everyone would be reconvening for family dinner and they would _never speak of this again,_ because everybody else _knew what was good for them._

The instant the door closed behind him, Tao wondered why Boss wasn't hurrying to his Master's side and turned to see a slow smile spreading across Frankenstein's face. He started to chuckle, then laugh, the same 'I win' laugh he'd used when they'd managed to shut the KSA's program out of Ye Ran and away from his students.

Tao heard the elevator door open and his heart froze in his chest (modifications meant to keep him from giving away his location with sound on overdrive) before he saw that it was just Seira leaving in order to do the noble thing of pointedly pretending they hadn't seen that when someone did something they should be embarrassed about.

Then two seconds later it opened again, but it was just Seira coming in to pick up Regis and sling him over her shoulder, probably because she was responsible for this kid and therefore she really shouldn't let him be exposed to such inelegant examples. Regis was too stunned that something this inelegant was happening to him to do more than let out something of an oof when he landed on her shoulder. The automatic door reopened for her, but then she paused, turned around, looked between Tao and M-21 and walked over to Tao.

"Hey!" Tao protested when he was slung over the white-haired clan leader's other shoulder, probably because out of the two other enhanced humans in the room he was the one more vulnerable to Frankenstein's horrible influences. "I want to know what happens!"

"I'm practically two hundred!" Regis said, highly offended by being treated like a kid.

The Loyard clan leader was unmoved by their protests.

"Why are you taking me and not M-21?" Regis went on when they were in the elevator.

"I will be returning to fetch those two shortly," Seira said. "I selected dishes that could be reheated later for Takeo, Frankenstein and Rael's late dinners, but there is a limited window before the food set out on the table dries out and becomes unpalatable." She was willing to make accommodations for her housekeeping teacher's mental breakdowns, but not for his trolling.

* * *

M-21 just stood there and stared at Frankenstein until the chuckling stopped.

"Oh, don't mind me," Frankenstein said. "Master just made it possible for me to use a certain method to extend his lifespan."

Okay, yeah, M-21 had to admit that justified some glee, although it would have been good if Frankenstein could just yell "Hell yes!" or something like a normal person. For a moment he wondered if the whole thing had been a set-up, but Raizel wouldn't have fallen for it. He almost asked 'Really?' because it was too good to be true, but there was no way Frankenstein would joke about this. Not about _him._

"A ruined lab and an embarrassing lapse in judgment are small prices to pay to increase Master's lifespan even small amounts," Frankenstein mused, which calmed M-21 down a little more. "I can't believe I jumped to conclusions when I knew that the ancient nobles used mind control for _communication_. They learned to speak our languages; there's nothing wrong about early humans evolving the instinct to speak theirs, when their mental defenses mean it wouldn't affect them as much as it would a human." He shook his head, getting back to business. "Thank goodness the next lab down has been kept all warmed up and ready to treat wounded since the Mark incident." He looked at Muzaka and winced. "I hope this hasn't set back his recovery process by too much." Turning back to M-21, it was clear that he was back in control. "I'm moving him to the new lab. Go ransom Tao from Miss Seira and send him down to assist me; there should be a stage in the setup process soon that Tao can handle on his own while I prepare Master's ramyeon."

Watching the scientist pick up the werewolf and go through the automatic elevator door, M-21 remembered when he saw Raizel open the house door on the way to bust up the Union's South Korea lab. _"M-24, everyone,"_ he thought, _"I miss you guys."_

Not only because he wished they could have lived to see this place, a home where people cared about what they wanted, a doctor who could and would save them, but _he missed sane people_.

" _Maybe I should hang out with the school kids more often_ ," he thought, and then remembered Shinwoo fighting with the infected, and DA-5, and…

Did he actually know any normal people? The janitor was nice, but no, he could handle Frankenstein's neatness obsession and still be laid back about it. Ikhan got into hack-offs with Tao, Suyi was an idol… There was Yuna! She was a normal person, right?

M-21 realized what it said about his life, that he had no idea how to tell whether or not someone was normal. All he really knew about it was that it was _not this_.

…although this was… not bad.

When he got upstairs, Raizel was drinking tea in the main room while Seira, Regis and Tao did arcane things with tinfoil and stuff.

M-21 had to tell them right away that, "He was happy at the end since he came up with something to extend _his_ lifespan."

And now Regis was looking at him overjoyed and Tao was vaulting over the counter to grab him and shake him down for details.

This place, these people… the thought of being stuck here forever… he'd still sell his soul for it.

* * *

After Takeo and Rael returned, dinner was finally served for good this time, with both Takeo and Rael aware that they had missed something big and clearly having something to report, but there seemed to be a 'no talking business at the dinner table' rule in effect.

When it was over, Raizel placed his chopsticks down with an air of finality. "Frankenstein."

"Yes, Master?"

"How many times now have you opened our mental link and flooded my mind with maniacal laughter?"

Frankenstein winced. "My apologies, Master."

"I appreciate everything you have done for me. I have faith in your judgment, and I trusted that you would not break your seal lightly." Frankenstein winced, caught. "However, if you have lost your faith in my willingness to judge you and it causes you such distress, then it is my duty to be less permissive in future. Your punishment begins at midnight. You have until then to prepare yourself."

"…Yes, Master." Frankenstein bowed his head for a moment and vanished like a Kertia.

* * *

"How is this a punishment?" M-21 wondered the next morning.

Rael nodded, looking about ready to stab Frankenstein out of a combination of shock and _envy_. The scientist lay on the backless couch on one side of the coffee table. Head in Raizel's lap, forearm over his own eyes as his Master carried on studying as though there was nothing unusual about this.

"Are you kidding?" Tao demanded. "Not allowed to do any work for forty-eight hours? Especially when he wants to work on a way to make _him_ live longer! And Boss only sleeps for like fifteen minutes, so that's forty-seven and a half hours awake! No training, no research, no keeping the paperwork from piling up, no checking up on Muzaka or the Union… it's diabolical!" He threw his head back and laughed. "I wish I could have met the Previous Lord!"

"Did you see the chore lists he left us?" M-21 asked him, holding up the stack he'd found on his pillow.

"He does not have my permission to give orders," Frankenstein's master told them, eyes still focused on the pages of a spiral notebook. "If you obey his orders, I will be forced to hold him responsible for it."

…Had M-21 seriously just heard Frankenstein whimper? No, no, there was no way.

"I told you to prepare yourself, not avoid your just punishment by doing your work through other means." Raizel frowned down at Frankenstein briefly, before delicately turning the page of his notebook.

* * *

 _Remember the shotgun vs. scalpel analogy in the last chapter? 'How do you change someone's mind with a scalpel? You give them a lobotomy.' So yeah, no wonder Frankenstein freaked out, especially since he's seen inter-species mind control before and it was_ not pretty _._

 _However, nobles were used to getting (and healing) shotgun blast levels of damage per communication, not minimum-power scratch damage. So what for humans might be mental enslavement/mind rape/brain damage possibly requiring years of deprogramming to fix was just pure unadulterated fluff for nobles, since before humans who would be sending nobles 'love me' messages with far less power behind them than an adult noble could manage?_ Children _. Only human noises were even tinier and cuter._

 _Of course, Frankenstein is not a teeny kitten and could do serious damage if that was something he would_ ever _do to_ anyone.

 _When Frankenstein sees Raizel come into his office after all those years, he goes to one knee, which in chivalric tradition is for when you have already sworn fealty to someone – he's renewing/acknowledging an oath. Rai sends people who have lost all their honor and have to submit to judgment to both knees. Instead of pushing Frankenstein down on his knees, pulling him up to bend only one knee is a message that yes, Frankenstein's honor_ is _still intact, and with it his oath._


	16. Time Out

_So, I believe I promised some fluff to make up for the fact I just posted 'Than Never At All' in the Elegance Under Pressure collection._

 _I love how the seal on Frankenstein's power is handled, the gradual realization that it's on the honor system. It's in line with the themes of the series, and you think about it, it's about the only way a seal like that could_ _actually freaking_ work _on someone like him._

 _Frankenstein is_ smart _. Someone putting a 'real' seal on him? He'd_ have _to find a way to break or get around the thing, in emergencies at minimum. What if a corrupt clan leader was killing humans, is he supposed to just stand there? And once he can break the seal at will, it'd be up to him whether to break the seal and use Dark Spear or not anyway._

 _To bring in political theory, right to rule/ability to enforce laws can ultimately come from one of two sources: the consent of the governed or 'obey or I will force you to obey.' Trying to_ force _someone like Frankenstein to obey you, especially when he was unsupervised for centuries? Yeah. Good luck with that._

 _Without Frankenstein, Rai would be dead by now, but without Rai, Frankenstein would have burnt out from the stress of fighting a war solo centuries ago. That's why he snaps when Rai is threatened – because that raises the idea that Rai might not always be there to rely on, and if he wasn't able to have faith in Rai, he would be in that mode_ all the time _._

* * *

Master had always taken his responsibilities very seriously.

He came down to Frankenstein's lab one minute before midnight, and stood there watching as Frankenstein looked at a few last things before turning off his computer and turning to face his noble.

Raizel nodded, clearly pleased that Frankenstein was acting honorably and taking his punishment instead of asking for a few more minutes, and turned to walk upstairs to the living room, trusting that Frankenstein would follow him.

Frankenstein had left himself just enough time to get Master a fresh cup of tea: he put it down on the coffee table next to Raizel's notes a fraction of a second before they heard Master's cell phone buzz in his pocket. Master had learned about setting alarms from all the discussion of Shinwoo's failure to get to class on time and what he should do about it. He was happy that Master was learning about and applying technology.

Instead of sitting in his usual place, Raizel picked up his notes, and then the tea, and moved them to one side of the table where they would be in front of him if he sat down on the couch. A few moments after sitting down where Frankenstein had predicted, he gestured at the empty space next to him. "Sit," his master said.

Ordered.

Frankenstein obeyed with a smile.

The Previous Lord's recommendation that Raizel punish Frankenstein for bothering certain of the clan leaders (he'd needed to gain information on the ones who didn't visit Raizel's manor) by forcing him to stop cleaning, training and generally being so _busy_ and relax a bit? Knowing the Previous Lord, it was both a joke and quite a serious suggestion.

Ideally, a punishment made someone consider what they'd done and learn better than to do it again. Having nothing productive to do certainly did mean that Frankenstein would spend that time in reflection. But if any other noble _dared_ punish him for something, he would have done the same thing again, harder, at the first opportunity because _how dare they_. The difference between that and sitting here with Raizel wasn't simply that he'd consented to Raizel doing anything to Frankenstein that he wanted, or even the fact that he _had_ given the Noblesse the right (and obligation) to judge Frankenstein's actions and punish him if he transgressed.

This wasn't an attempt to force him into obedience, knowing that this would happen again if he disobeyed. Two days didn't even qualify as a slap on the wrist by noble standards, although Master knew that Frankenstein's sense of time was both different than his own and variable. That time might drag on when Frankenstein had nothing to do, instead of passing by so quickly it barely even registered without anything to register. Master was just trying to reassure him that Master _would_ impose penalties on him for his transgressions, if it ever became truly necessary. So Frankenstein could be secure in the knowledge that as long as he was not being punished or asked to explain his actions, Master was satisfied that his behavior was honorable.

Not necessarily _elegant_ , but inelegance wasn't a punishable offense.

He watched Master situate himself, then turn to look at Frankenstein with the cup of tea in his hand. Raizel frowned. "Stand," Master said, and did the same himself, after setting down the teacup with a click on the saucer.

Frankenstein blinked, watching Raizel reach up and slide Frankenstein's lab coat off his shoulders with a serious expression, then walk away with it.

Ah, putting it in the laundry room, Frankenstein realized, listening to Raizel's footsteps.

Raizel returned, looked at the casual clothes Frankenstein had worn under it, and nodded in satisfaction. After seating himself, he once again ordered his bonded to, "Sit."

He didn't resent the orders. He truly didn't. On the contrary, they made him happy. Because Raizel was doing this for _his_ sake, to prove that he _would_ order him, if need be. That he would… not set boundaries, when he'd done that already (with the seal) but enforce them. That he might have overlooked Frankenstein breaking the seal, but that was because he trusted Frankenstein's honor and judgment, not because he wasn't willing to do what he had promised in the moment of their bonding.

Even after the Dr. Aris incident, when Frankenstein had definitely transgressed thoughtlessly, Master had asked him what his reasons were instead of assuming that Frankenstein had simply been irresponsible. When Frankenstein's apology was sincere and Master could sense that Frankenstein firmly intended to make sure he didn't do that again, there was no need to try to punish him. Why teach a lesson already learned?

Master had never punished anyone except with eternal sleep. He was trying to learn how to do something unfamiliar to make Frankenstein feel better. Instead of simply trusting that Frankenstein would keep his word and obey Raizel's orders since he understood the reason for those orders, for example, here Raizel was actually supervising him.

Even if Raizel's attention seemed entirely centered on his tea, and now his notes.

Frankenstein's eyes couldn't help going to the pages. He was just so proud of Raizel, for reading the explanatory booklets Frankenstein had made for him and applying that to learning without anyone's prompting.

Raizel wrote down what he remembered from class in the evenings, and then opened his textbook and filled in the gaps with what he found there. Within a week after his Master's awakening, Frankenstein had looked at Master's notebooks and seen that Master had started to take those notes and turn them into compositions, writing them out again in a format imitating the explanations Frankenstein had written out for him.

It made him smile, flattered. What he'd written really must have been helpful, if his Master had decided that the best way to learn things was to read one of Frankenstein's explanations. However, Master wanted to learn his class material without Frankenstein's help, especially after learning that some exam results were ranked. He'd solemnly told Frankenstein that it simply would not be fair for him to accept Frankenstein's personal tutelage when the other students in South Korea did not have the same advantage. Since Raizel refused to avail himself of Frankenstein's guides to school subjects, he'd decided to make guides for himself.

Master had hit upon one of the classic learning techniques without Frankenstein's prompting! One of the best ways to learn something was to explain it to someone else, since that meant putting together an explanation that would work to explain it to yourself. It even got around the fact that both textbooks and lectures were designed to explain things to human minds, since Raizel was figuring out explanations that would work for _him_ and how he thought.

 _Millennia_ in front of a window, starved for companionship and intellectual stimulation, and Frankenstein got to watch him bloom like this and know he and that the school he had created for Raizel were what made it possible.

Out of all his centuries of life, these truly were such precious days, he thought. No wonder the children they'd taken in were so determined to protect their life here. It renewed Frankenstein's determination to protect the life that was here with them, that turned this house into a _home_ , but for now he was too content for this perfect moment to give birth to protective wrath.

Finished with the last pen stroke (elegant in his movements as always), Raizel turned to look at Frankenstein, a small frown on his face.

"Is there a problem, Master?" Frankenstein asked, not worried it was any kind of danger. His master just seemed… dissatisfied. For the most powerful of the nobles to still be determined to improve...

Perfect.

His master was utterly perfect in all his imperfections and Frankenstein adored him so.

"While I am pleased to see you smile like that, if I recall correctly such a smile is inappropriate for someone experiencing the punishment for their transgressions. If Shinwoo takes his punishment too lightly Mr. Park will assign extra laps, but I do not wish to let you suffer for my lack of experience." Master seemed to think that if Frankenstein was too happy, it was probably Raizel's fault for having no idea how to punish people.

"It hasn't even been fifteen minutes yet," Frankenstein told him reassuringly. He knew that was a platitude. Spending more time but nothing to think on but the fact that Master was here, and well, and trying so hard for _his_ sake; how could that bring him anything but joy?

Joy for his master to share. So that was a third reason the Previous Lord had made that remark – the obvious ones being to defuse the immediate situation and make Raizel aware that options existed, including this one. Wily old coot never did anything for less than five reasons – at least this one was acceptable, since it was for his master's benefit.

The importance of Raizel's happiness was one thing they did agree on.

Raizel sighed and put down his notebook. "You do not have my permission to assist me," he said firmly. "That includes assisting me with your punishment."

That made him blink. …Yes, Frankenstein had seen this as a learning experience for Raizel, hadn't he? Something he could help him with. That meant Frankenstein was the teacher and Raizel was the student. Which meant that Frankenstein was the one ultimately in control here, not his master. He let out a slow breath, ashamed. "Forgive me." For clinging to his own power and control, when he should have relied on his master. Once again, he'd failed to trust in Raizel.

His master shook his head: in his mind, there was nothing to forgive. "You spent a long time without anyone you could rely on. Nor have I fulfilled the responsibilities I took on when I made our contract. You did me the honor of entering into a contract of the soul with me, asking only to remain by my side, and I repaid you by leaving you among enemies."

Those words shocked him. "Master, I… of course I know you didn't _abandon_ me."

"I did abandon you. I have violated the terms of the contract we made." Red eyes looked down at his hands, but there was no teacup there to drink from, to give him a moment to think of what to say. Instead of reaching for it, he faced Frankenstein squarely. "No, I made that contract knowing that I could not grant the wish you made when you honored me with your soul. Eventually my duty as the Noblesse would take me from you. I offered to grant your other wishes instead, but before a century passed I left you alone for eight hundred and twenty years." A time much longer to Frankenstein than Raizel. Much longer then the time Frankenstein had already lived before their contract. "What you wished for more than anything was to not be alone anymore, and I condemned you to the suffering that was slowly killing you when first we met."

"Master… No." Frankenstein shook his head. "No. I missed you, yes, and I worried for you. I wanted to see you, but you did not abandon me."

Frankenstein had made a sacrifice of blood to create their contract, and put his free will on the line, there for Raizel to take and destroy if he so wished.

Raizel had made a sacrifice of his soul, put his _life_ on the line. So soon after burning a piece of his soul for the power to save Frankenstein, and he'd given him another piece. The power Seira and Raskreia sensed from Frankenstein that made them mistake him for a noble, the noble's power that lay within him was a noble's _soul_.

"I left you," Master said, voice heavy with regret. "You had to leave Lukedonia, your home and friends because I failed to ensure your safety so that you could be at peace, no longer having to fear that your enemies would capture you and use you to harm others."

"I had Dark Spear, Master." His contract with Raizel gave him some additional protection from another noble binding him, but he couldn't take the risk of someone like Lagus Tradio capturing him and making him do research for them. He'd only dared go to Lukedonia knowing that if they managed to break his will, Dark Spear would eat his soul before the nobles could get any use out of him.

Frankenstein closed his eyes, raising his hand to rest over his heart, dwelling on the sense of the warmth within him, the inhuman power coiled through his mind, the alien emotions that _treasured_ him. "I longed to be by your side again," he said softly, knowing that it was his emotions that would reach Raizel but still wanting to give him the words, wanting to be _certain_ he understood. "But that was for the sake of giving you the life you wished for, not to ease the pain of loneliness. I was _never_ alone, not for a moment in all those centuries, for you were with me."

Dark Spear could whisper, the Union could turn every man's hand against him, make it impossible for him to confide in anyone without giving them a death sentence, and yet he had _never_ felt alone since the day Cadis Etrama di Raizel asked if he consented to the contract he wished for even barely knowing what it meant.

Another's presence in his mind should have been a violation of his integrity. How could he act in accordance with his will and his soul if there were two wills, two souls within him? He used to think that mental contact was nothing but mind _control_ , that another's presence could only be an invasion. He'd thought that he was offering himself up to be _taken,_ and he was willing to accept that, he'd thought it would be alright if it was this person and this person alone.

He'd offered himself up to be used. Because despite the words of the Previous Lord, that was all he'd seen of contracts. Two people using each other, trying to take advantage of each other. He'd trusted that Cadis Etrama di Raizel wouldn't harm his will any more than the necessary and inevitable. He'd been willing to pay that price for the sake of the being who saved his life and gave him a home. He hadn't expected…

He hadn't _dreamed_ of being richer for it. More himself for the compromise of self. But how could he be a protector without someone to protect? How much easier was it to have faith in himself and his own beliefs when there was someone he trusted to judge them? With Master, he could forge a way forward without being forced to watch his back. He could _trust_ again, when he'd thought the Union meant he would never be able to take that risk, when he was risking not himself but the world. They had already used his research to kill too many people: what would have happened if they got their hands on him again?

Bonded to Master, he could set down the burden he had carried for centuries. Without Master, he would have been crushed by the weight of it long ago, but he could entrust the fate of the world and his researches to Master. He had someone to carry that burden with him. He was no longer fighting his war alone in all the world.

Raizel looked too worried for him to believe what the Noblesse had to be sensing. "When the nobles were ordered to Lukedonia, the humans who had contracts with them missed them terribly."

"I'm sure they did," Frankenstein agreed. "But they weren't enhanced. They might have been able to draw on noble powers, but we don't have the same perceptions. Or is it simply that you think it would be rude to listen to the fragment of my soul within yours?" Feel the emotions it focused on Raizel, the way Raizel had sensed the hatred Dark Spear had for Frankenstein?

Sitting there by his master's side, under his protection, he closed his eyes for a moment and let himself dwell on what he sensed as he opened himself to Master. This way, Raizel could see it in his mind if for some reason he couldn't sense it within himself. It would be a pity if he could not: Frankenstein wanted to share something this wonderful with his Master, especially when he only had this because his Master had shared something so precious with him.

A flame, cupped in his palms. A light in the darkness, warmth in the coldest of nights. The proof that someone loved him enough to gift him a precious fragment of their too-mortal soul. The certainty that their contract still existed, that their oath would be kept, and someday he would once again be at Raizel's side.

He'd spent so long as an exile unable to relax his guard, always in enemy territory. Homeless for all the labs and bases he built, because a home was a place of safety and sanctuary, a home was where he was wanted for himself instead of the power his research could grant. All the company he'd had for far too long was prisoners, and they certainly didn't want him there experimenting on them.

It was only when he fled to a noble's manor, to the center of enemy territory, that he had a _home_. Home was where his Master was, and his Master would _always_ be with him, until this precious soul flickered out.

He… he hoped his own soul gave Master the same joy, and let his hope show in his eyes when he met his Master's again.

Raizel let his eyes close, listening serenely, and finally a corner of his mouth tilted up. "I apologize if our contract of the soul has been talkative."

He laughed, brief and warm. "You have not said anything that I did not need to hear." Not that there was enough of Raizel in him to have a mind capable of speaking, or reacting to stimuli. It was enough that it was a piece of _Raizel_ , with the honor and the caring that were the core of the noble he willingly called Master. It meant _so much_ to know that someone cared for him and would _never_ abandon him by choice, down the long centuries.

Of course he hadn't lost faith that he and Master would be reunited, not when he knew the will for Frankenstein to be by his side burned as fiercely in Master as in Bonded.

His master realized something and frowned again. "This is the second time I have been forced to remind you that you do not have my permission to assist me. You are not intending to violate the terms of your punishment, but I do not think you can help it." He sighed, then met Frankenstein's eyes again. In a firm voice he said, "Frankenstein, I will have to withdraw your permission to speak."

He winced, and bowed his head apologetically in lieu of saying, 'Yes, Master.' To Master communication, especially about emotions, _definitely_ qualified as hard work and was therefore prohibited for the duration of this punishment. Especially since he had made such an effort for Master's sake. No, he wasn't very good at all at abiding by the terms of a punishment. Hopefully it was simply a lack of practice. A lack of authority figures willing and able to stand up to the Union and worth respecting, other than Master.

Master patted him on the shoulder to console him, and also as apology for even the temporary retraction of one of his liberties. Then Raizel perked up. "You said that when you returned you would fall asleep in my presence," he reminded Frankenstein, and pressed gently down on Frankenstein's shoulder for a moment.

Falling asleep with his head in his Master's lap now, he thought, inwardly laughing at himself. Bonded to a noble – was pampered pet that much more dignified than slave? Back then, he would have loathed the thought of belonging to a noble.

That was the difference between belonging to and belonging _with_.

This would be much more of a _punishment_ if he dwelled on the things left undone, but he'd written out detailed chore lists and the children, Seira and Rael knew what was good for them. Nothing was going to fall apart if he took two days to let Master take care of him. To give his dear master the same happiness he felt when he took care of Raizel.

He'd long since given himself the ability to control when he fell asleep, and for how long. He needed every bit of safe rest he could get when the enemy pursued him. And what safer place was there to rest than within the Noblesse's protection?

So much better to use that power to make someone happy.

His soul was capable of lending his master strength – he'd proved it putting Muzaka to sleep. Frankenstein had a lead. Now that he knew _something_ worked, even a little, once he learned _how_? With that knowledge, he might be able to find a way to heal his master!

If Raizel used those pieces instead of his own soul the next time they were attacked, then Frankenstein had _time_ to find a better solution. He could only give so much, but knowing Gejutel, it would be easy to make him _take responsibility_ for using Master to train the Lord. Make him hold still while Dark Spear carved pieces off that venerable old soul. Then there was what Master being able to fight would do for the war against the Union for humanity's freedom. For their ability to defend the life they had here.

He felt Master's hand in his hair.

Someone was touching him, even if not skin to skin – Master had taken care to don pure white gloves – and it did not bother him. He could even find it pleasant, relax into the touch, when it was Master alone in all the world.

No. Never alone. When was Master not touching him, soul to soul…

"Sleep," his Master said, but there was no power behind it, only trust that Frankenstein would keep his promise and obey. A belief in the human's honor, despite all his disobedience.

Hmm, he reflected, letting a small yawn escape him. Two days… what was two days? This would not… be so bad…

To let go of everything, feel his shoulders and mental barriers relax, surrendering himself and falling into the darkness behind his eyes in the certainty that he would be caught and held by the one he knew he could always rely on.

* * *

 _Frankenstein legitimately sucks at being obedient. If there's ever an 'RK has grown up' scene where they get that chance to punch him in the face 'just once,' it needs to be because they took advantage of his 'don't tell me what to do' streak. Have I mentioned that I love the 'the type that doesn't listen' scene?_

 _Being able to give an order and have Frankenstein obey it is rather like calling spirits from the vasty deep: normally, they don't listen to a word you say. So it's pretty impressive when they do answer a certain person's call._

 _Rai just knows him well enough that most of the orders he gives are things that Frankenstein wants to do (like fuss over him/make him happy), tactical necessities or about Duty, which is up there on Frankenstein's list of values along with free will. And that's a lot of why Frankenstein obeys him, because Raizel would never want him not to be himself. While Rai's willing to go along with this Master thing if that's what Frankenstein wants to do, he's perfectly aware that Frankenstein is not a tame human. Frankenstein is less a delicate butterfly perching on his finger and more a massive lion letting him pet it without removing his hand._

 _It is an honor._


	17. Mornings

_Dedicated to Lady Simantha, as thanks for taking one of my plotbunnies off my hands. I offered to write her a giftfic in thanks, but she said she'd rather I spend that time on the stuff I was working on instead of adding something to my plate._

* * *

Tao was the first down in the morning – he knew he was supposed to get so much sleep every night, so he'd gone to bed early so he wasn't underfoot while Boss was doing things. Also he wanted to be the first to see what was going on, what the punishment was, before Takeo and M-21 could come down.

When he turned the light on _he_ was sitting there like always – no, not like always, on one of the couches instead of his chair.

Tao had to get closer, lean over and stare, because Boss' head was on _his_ lap? Really? _He_ seemed totally at ease though, when Tao glanced at _his_ face. Tao looked back down to see that there was a soft smile on Boss' lips, and he looked warm and gentle, glowing with happiness. He looked so utterly relaxed that Tao checked to see if Boss had relaxed his grip on his powers enough to start literally glowing, but no, he wasn't casting any shadows.

Of course Boss would have sensed that Tao was looming over him. Boss opened his eyes, holding his finger to his lips to signal that he couldn't talk, smiling slightly.

Raizel was frowning slightly down at him, like he was perfectly aware punished people shouldn't look that happy, but just didn't have the heart to try to actually punish Franken and make him suffer when he looked like that.

So was the punishment that Boss wasn't allowed to talk? Tao wondered if touching Raizel was part of the punishment too, given how Frankenstein felt about his master's dignity, but Takeo had fallen asleep on Raizel _with Frankenstein there_ when Frankenstein was teaching Raizel about hugging and pressure points, and there was no way Takeo wouldn't have woken up if he sensed Frankenstein's angry aura. Tao was still sure he was missing something.

If… if someone else was punishing Boss, they'd punish him for being difficult, but Raizel just let it go because Frankenstein clearly couldn't help it and went back to reviewing his Calculus notes.

If this was what a contract was like…. No, just knowing that they even _could_ be like this, Tao _wanted_ one. Not _now_ , though. Not when he didn't want just any contract, he wanted one like this and _Boss_ might have gotten lucky and just ended up in the house of the best noble (if Raizel hadn't had something to do with it), but Tao wasn't going to rely on luck, not when he could write matchmaking software.

"His punishment is the Previous Lord's suggestion: he does not have my permission to work, or assist anyone, until midnight tomorrow," Raizel said, glancing down at Frankenstein with not exactly _suspicion_ , but 'I know you're going to be difficult about this and I will handle it.'

Which was nice, that _he_ knew that Boss really couldn't help himself and that was going to be okay. _He_ would never hurt Boss for being Boss.

"I have been forced to withdraw his permission to speak," Raizel told Tao.

Someone else would have _gloried_ in having that much power over Frankenstein, but not Raizel. He was apologizing for how Frankenstein couldn't talk to Tao right now?

"Since Boss is out of commission, I'll bring you the tea cookies," Tao said, straightening up and clapping his hands together.

Raizel shook his head elegantly and explained that, "Frankenstein normally brings me tea cookies. It is not a punishment if his work is still done."

"Why don't I bring Boss some tea cookies, then?" Tao went to go do that. "If you're making him relax, he should have something to eat, right?" he said, putting the plate down by Raizel's tea cup.

Raizel nodded after a moment. "I am unfamiliar with punishments other than eternal sleep," he confessed, picking up a tea cookie.

Soooo… that meant he'd be grateful if Tao could tell him how it was done? And that meant Tao could probably make him stop doing something if it wasn't okay? Right, Raizel was an empath, so with that link he'd probably know right away if something was really bothering Boss, and it just made sense that he wouldn't hurt Boss when that would hurt him too, right?

Instead of eating the tea cookie, Raizel held it to Frankenstein's lips with a very serious expression on his face.

Was he feeding Boss? The way Boss kept putting food in front of Raizel even though Raizel wasn't human and didn't need extra calories after recovering from injuries?

Extra calories Union experiments might get. Or not.

Tao wished he could stay home and watch, but he had to guard the school. Tao was supposed to learn how to do things, and even if Raizel didn't have as much practice taking care of people as Frankenstein did, it was just… something Tao had seen a lot more of since he got here.

He was worried that seeing someone punished was going to be horrible, because that was what punishments _were_ , but he should have known they weren't like that. This place wasn't like that. Nothing was horrible here, with them, except the thought of losing them.

If they really could get the Union out of the way… "Wouldn't it be great if everywhere was like Ye Ran? Boss would do a much better job ruling the world than the Union." Hmm…

Tao saw _his_ head jerk, alarmed. "You must not," _he_ said. "Humans must not be controlled by those with more power than they possess."

Aww. Tao frowned deliberately cutely. "No taking over the world?" Even to give it to Raizel? It was obvious that Raizel didn't want it, but that would be a reason to give it to him. Well, if it weren't for the fact Tao didn't want Raizel to be all worried he wasn't taking good enough care of billions of humans, but he had Boss' help, right? So he wouldn't have to worry. Nah, he'd still worry, though, and Tao didn't care enough about people he'd never met to want Raizel to get that upset and maybe use up all his lifeforce. Raizel did Awakenings for the people he was responsible for! So no, he definitely couldn't make Raizel responsible for more people, even if Boss had found a way to maybe make him better.

Raizel shook his head, calming now, letting out a sigh of relief.

"Wouldn't it be nice though?" Tao asked, mostly hypothetically. "If everywhere was like this?" If everyone could be this happy?

"Would you truly be happy," Raizel – the Noblesse – asked him, "if it was forced upon you, without respect for your will?"

If someone was _making_ him live the way they wanted him to live, without giving him a choice? _Making_ him serve someone else, _ordering_ him to do a job… "No," he said, and sighed. Darn.

Raizel handed him a tea cookie and, when it was accepted, gave him a consoling pat on the shoulder. "Creating a path that leads the nobles to a better future is difficult even for the Lords. It is a sacred and worthy calling." So Tao shouldn't feel like he had to give up on changing the world, but, "It is not something that can be accomplished by force. That is why the strongest of the nobles wields no authority to tell nobles how to live."

No, it was the Noblesse's job to stop other people from forcing people into things.

Right, okay, no taking over the world.

He wasn't going to do that to Raizel. Raizel cared about him, so he couldn't become an offender Raizel had to eliminate. He wasn't going to hurt _him_ the way the traitor nobles had.

Nope, no way. Never.

"Can I see the charms?" he asked. He'd seen Raizel eat one of them not long before Boss started laughing, so they might have something to do with Raizel 'making it possible' for Boss to extend his lifespan.

Raizel nodded and held up a wrist, holding his notebook in his other hand and watching it instead of Tao. Tao hesitated, but it really was less likely to offend than hugging, right? So he held that wrist and started to turn the charm bracelet around it.

A frying pan with a hole in it was a giveaway even without the unicorn, and the wolf, and, "This is me!" he said happily when he found the laptop.

The hair tie had to be Takeo, and the apple Boss. Tao would have thought a gun for Takeo… but then after Krans absorbed Shark, Tao found out that they _weren't_ really allowed to choose their own weapons and specialties, but they were determined in advance so Krans would get the right powers. Takeo knew a lot about guns, and spent a lot of time maintaining his, but were guns his hobby and computers Tao's because of who they were, or because of how the Union made them?

"So what was the one you ate?" he asked Raizel.

The noble turned to him, looked at him for a moment, and said one word: "Ramyeon."

Tao laughed, scratching the back of his head. "Right." That was kind of obvious, heh. Was that the reason Raizel ate it at all? He probably wanted comfort food after having to try to calm down Frankenstein when he was that upset, and Raizel was serious about his ramyeon. So yeah, it made sense that he'd try eating a charm if it was a ramyeon charm.

Something about that…

"Boss?" He looked down at him, and Boss opened his eyes again, clearly wondering what was it now. "I think you made a mistake making most of them symbolize people. I mean, humans are friends, not food!"

Raizel nodded without looking down at Boss. Was there a little color on his cheeks? Tao remembered how embarrassed Regis got at the 'munch munch' thing.

Boss might not be able to talk-talk right now, but the way he lifted up his hand and facepalmed said it all.

* * *

Ikhan frowned, adjusting his glasses when he saw, "Rai isn't with you guys?" Rai was _never_ late to school.

When he could come at all.

Oh crap, M-21 realized. They should have decided on a cover story before they left the house. The nobles didn't do what the Union did and burn out memories. What the kids had been through was still in there, and even though M-21 wished it didn't have to be, it was still better that way. What Frankenstein did to the kids for their sakes was _nothing_ like what the Union did to M-21, so he could be okay with it, but the fact that nothing had been… stolen from the kids meant that they worried.

About Rai. Even about M-21.

He wished he had a cover story, and found Takeo was also looking at Tao.

"The Chairman has been overworking himself," Seira said before Tao could reel off something utterly ridiculous. "We were concerned that if he was left unsupervised, even at home, he would start doing paperwork again. Raizel has so much work to catch up with," after spending days asleep in that coffin, "that he has had difficulties following the class lectures. He decided to study at home and get caught up so we did not fall behind and Takeo and the others did not use up their vacation days."

"Right, you guys have been missing a lot of days of work, going with the Chairman to those conferences, huh?" Shinwoo said. "And taking Regis home."

M-21 nodded, making a mental note that 'attending conferences' was the cover story for their training on the island. Frankenstein always took Seira out on the weekends, because she took much better notes than Regis did, so it worked out better if she attended class and Regis studied her notes.

"Don't worry, I was going to record today's lectures anyway," Ikhan said. "Who knows how much time Shinwoo'll spend asleep?"

"Regis watched all the classes you recorded on the plane," Tao told Ikhan.

True, except they took a helicopter, not a plane.

Regis nodded. "Of course I did. It would be inelegant not to, when Ikhan troubled himself for my sake."

"It really wasn't a lot of trouble," Ikhan said, but he still sounded happy.

"Isn't it exhausting going back and forth like that?" Suyi asked, to change the subject. Gratitude got complicated for nobles, or maybe it was that it was very simple for them (since nobles really didn't need repayment for what they did the way humans could die without a paycheck) and that was why the proper courtesies could be incompatible with how humans did it. And Regis was always trying to be proper and courteous, so they could end up talking in circles. "Jet lag can get nasty."

"I'm fine."

"Of course he is," Shinwoo agreed. "Our little Regis is tough."

Regis looked pleased (or rather, 'well, of course should I be offended that you're even mentioning it,' which was pleased for Regis) while Seira nodded.

"If Rai's okay, I'm going to head into the classroom so I can get my head down on the desk and catch some sleep before class starts," Shinwoo said, stretching.

"Wait, what about the Chairman?" Yuna realized, and Shinwoo stopped to listen. "Is he worried about his nephew?" Was that why he was under extra stress?

"Nephew?" Tao asked, before snapping his fingers. "You mean Rael! What makes you think they're related?"

"He isn't?" Yuna looked at Seira.

The noble could only shake her head, looking slightly scandalized that someone had insulted her teacher like that.

"Our school is, um." Ikhan blushed.

"Problem students," Shinwoo said cheerfully. "Ikhan and I used to get in _so much trouble_ back in the day. And Yuna used to be really shy because other kids would pick on her." He cracked his knuckles meaningfully.

"You still get in a lot of trouble now," Suyi said, shaking her head. "The principal and our teachers are really great about me missing so much school for my career," she explained. "I study while I'm away, but Mr. Park does a lot of extra work giving me lesson plans in advance. Shinwoo was suspended from our middle school half the time, and Ikhan got expelled."

Shinwoo for being late and getting into fights, sure, but M-21 looked at Ikhan.

"I was really bored!" Ikhan said, embarrassed. "Most schools wouldn't let me bring a computer into class, especially after what I did to my last school's computer system, but I really can't pay attention without it. A lot of my family are police officers, and the Chairman went to the station to talk to my uncle about patrol routes and how he should recommend students get to school, and he came to dinner at our house and that's how I got into Ye Ran," he confessed. "I really didn't have very good grades."

"Even before you got expelled," Shinwoo agreed. "Ikhan's parents used to feed me while my dad was out of town. Not like _I_ have the grades for this place, even with the Chairman helping me out. Never went over to his place before we met Rai, but I was in and out of his office a lot."

"That's not something to be proud of," Suyi said. "Isn't that mostly because you get in fights?"

"He said that since I trained so much I had a work ethic; the problem was how to keep me from just giving up on school until I figured out how to apply that work ethic to my studies. And it's not my fault people keep picking on people from my school," Shinwoo said with a grin. "They should know better by now, between me and Ajussi."

M-21 blinked. Shinwoo would pick fights with enhanced humans to protect his friends – hell, protect _nobles_ he'd just met. Had Frankenstein seen that in him and was that why he'd wanted Shinwoo for Ye Ran? Because that sounded like the kind of thing Frankenstein would do.

No.

That sounded like what he _had_ done, when he hired M-21. A punk, a failure, but now he was school security, he got to protect the kids M-24 had protected.

He could picture it now: Shinwoo getting sent to the principal's office after getting into a fight, all defiant because no way could he just watch someone getting beaten up in front of him, he wasn't going to be able to apologize and back down without being _really obviously lying_ … and Frankenstein smiling at him, saying, _'Just don't kill them.'_ Or as long as Shinwoo kept up his training so he could be sure he could take them down without seriously injuring them, then _Frankenstein_ certainly wasn't going to get on his case about protecting people.

If Yuna was Rai, she'd be sighing right now, so it looked like M-21 was right.

"It would have taken us forever to get caught up with the rest of our class if Yuna hadn't made us study with her," Ikhan said, noticing M-21 looking at Yuna.

"Well, your parents insisted on paying me," Yuna said, blushing. "But they're right, I used to… I used to embarrass myself all the time, nothing I said was the right thing, but no one bullies anyone here, so I got more practice talking to people. I'm still not…" She fiddled with her hands, looking down at them. "I'm still not brave enough to say some things, but…" Her eyes glanced up at them before she hurriedly looked down again.

"We get a lot of trust fund babies," Suyi cut in before Yuna could get any more embarrassed. "Because everybody knows the school will make them shape up. So I get a lot of people asking me how to get into Ye Ran. The Chairman's _really_ well-connected. I don't think I've gotten any jobs _just_ because I'm a Ye Ran student, but I've met a lot of alumni and parents of alumni and it doesn't _hurt_. That was part of why I was so shocked that you guys just went over to the Chairman's house after school," she told the other three. "Do you know how much trouble Hansu Jeong got into after people found out he made an ass of himself on our campus? He tried to blame it all on his bodyguard, but _everyone_ ended up knowing that was the only reason he'd hired the guy, so that he could order him to bully people and it wouldn't be _Hansu's_ fault the American was acting like an American." She rolled her eyes.

The government connections that got the KSA that funding, a big family in the police department, now the entertainment industry?

M-21 snorted. Wasn't like he hadn't known Frankenstein was scary.

"Seriously, guys," Suyi said. "Would it kill you to be a little more respectful towards our teachers? Nobody wants to anger the Chairman after that, because the next thing you know a big advertiser will have a kid on the waiting list for Ye Ran."

"He's really nice," Yuna said. "He's really understanding about a lot of things. We thought that someone asked him to help Rael even though Rael's too old to go to our school."

"Yeah, that's what happened!" Tao seized the opening while M-21 was thinking about how Yuna wasn't _entirely_ wrong but putting it that way… "They're just not related," Tao quickly insisted. "Rael's dad was a friend of his or something."

The kids were smart: M-21 could see them notice the _was_.

"We should invite him along with us sometime," Shinwoo said, and M-21 wasn't nice enough to say that no, Rael would really rather they didn't. "If he's like Yuna and Rai and has trouble with social stuff, the only way to get better is to practice, right." Crossing his arms, he nodded: so the matter was settled and Rael was now condemned to socializing with human high school students on pain of making Raizel sad his friends' feelings were hurt by how Rael kept saying no to their invitations.

"That would be nice of you," Takeo said, smiling. "He could use more friends."

And the thing was, M-21 thought, staring at him, he _meant_ that.

Suyi tapped her watch – they needed to get moving for class.

"Can we come by the security station at recess?" Ikhan asked.

"Sure!" Tao said, definitely making a mental note to have all the extra screens and cameras retracted back into the desk and ceiling before the kids came in.

The kids started to head to the classroom, but Shinwoo trailed behind. "Um, Seira?"

"We should start patrolling," Takeo said pointedly, pulling Tao away from the new conversation and towards the soccer field.

No fool, M-21 followed. Frankenstein wasn't the only scary person in the house. His ears were still perked up enough to hear Shinwoo say, "I'm kind of nervous because when I told Yuna this she didn't know what to do and it was really awkward for her, but… um… I mean not today, we got to go make sure Rai and the Chairman are okay, but…"

Yeah, no, he was _not_ getting in the middle of that. Even Tao was double-timing it now.

Wait: if Frankenstein really did have people lining up to dump their problem kids on him, then what did they think was up with _Raizel?_

Yuna _and Rai_ : that was what Shinwoo said.

M-21 thought he was so strange because he was a 'noblesse' at first, but his classmates didn't remember that he was a noble, so they had to think he was a human. Which meant he was a really weird human.

…Or _was_ there something up with Raizel? Regis and Seira were much better at acting human, but they had spent a few years in the human world preparing for Regis' majority and Raizel was trapped in the manor.

Still, a lot of the nobles did act like he was weird, even for a noble. Just in a good way, because he was really 'elegant.' But how much of that was because Raizel knew to not say anything when he didn't know what to say and stuff like that?

Now that M-21 thought about it, it seemed obvious that Raizel wasn't normal, even for nobles. It wasn't just Regis and Seira: even the ones on that island acted a lot more human than he did.

So was _he_ … different, the way M-21 wasn't a normal human anymore? Was that part of why Frankenstein became Raizel's comrade, because they both were different? And then the school Frankenstein built for Raizel… was that why M-21 couldn't find any normal people here? Because it would take a place where strange was normal for the Noblesse and an enhanced human with a werewolf heart to have a normal life?

* * *

 _There are so many shiny things I want to ramble on about in A/Ns, but they really should be explored in future chapters instead. Eg. the meaning of the word 'contract.'_

 _Yuna is unusually awkward for a member of the Noblesse cast, and her childhood friends were mainly very weird kids. Weird kids often stick together. She misread social convention enough to do something as a friendly gesture that Shinwoo thought was a clear expression of romantic feelings._

 _So the three of them meet Rai, and 'doesn't know how to act normal' equals 'like Yuna,' and that's part of why they adopt him._

 _Given Frankenstein's thing for helping people… we know he and Shinwoo knew each other before the webtoon started, but we also know from Suyi that he doesn't directly interact much with most of the student body, at least not more than is normal for a principal. Still, when_ Shinwoo _wants classes to resume, I figure a lot of the student body is_ very _loyal to their school._

… _but I should save a certain worldbuilding idea that hit me for a future chapter instead of just A/Ns. Short version: Rai's Adventure confirming that non-modified human psychics exist in the 'verse plus Ye Ran taking in 'weird' students equals? If Sense Evil is a common human ability in the Noblesse 'verse that'd give them some chance of staying out of Union labs, and someone has to warn young psychics about the Union._


	18. Hospitality

"Making people like you is illegal on Lukedonia, so Number Three – Regis – and Miss Seira don't know much more about it than Rael does, maybe even less," said Tao through their car's speakers. He'd given them a device to hook the phone he'd given them up to their car, but Yonsu wasn't sure he couldn't do it without calling them first. "Boss is being punished with a vacation and he didn't experiment with this kind of thing since he didn't care about making enemies like him, so that leaves _him_."

"Him." Sangeen looked at Yonsu.

" _Him_ ," Tao corrected, or agreed, cheerfully. "You're in luck: he's not at school today so he can look at Boss whenever he starts thinking about getting work done, it's great! Just come by the house whenever; maybe dinner? Miss Seira's a great cook. Oh, your favorite food isn't ramyeon, is it?"

 _Thinking_ about work?

Yonsu was the one to wonder, "No, why?" The KSA paid better than _that_.

"We're not having any tonight! Boss isn't allowed to cook any, and _he_ told Seira and the rest of us not to do anything for him."

Why was it strange to not have ramyeon? "We wouldn't want to intrude?" Sangeen tried, exchanging another 'wow these people' look with his wife. "We're free right now: where should we head?"

"The Chairman's home address?" They could practically see Tao's wide-eyes head tilt on the line, like when the Chairman asked him if he'd told the KSA they couldn't leave. He must be thinking that an intelligence agency had to know their address, right?

"You're not staying at a safehouse?" Yonsu wondered.

"Nah, that'd be a big hassle when everyone has to go to the school every day, right? And the kids come over all the time – Ikhan, Shinwoo and a couple of their classmates. Everyone wants to try to live this way as long as we can: it's worth the risk," Tao said, voice turning serious for a moment. "Right, the three of us are at school doing our jobs, but if you go by the house Rael can let you in when you get there, he knows what you look like. See you later, if you decide to stay for dinner!"

* * *

The grumpy teenage noble opened the door before they could hit the intercom button. "Don't just stand around," he told them, motioning for them to come inside.

Once they reached a living room that looked designer, the kind of thing that suited the rich chairman of Ye Ran (if not so much the scary person beneath that façade), Rael bowed to the black-haired man sitting on the backless sofa by the coffee table, a blond head in his lap. "Sir, the enhanced humans who protect this country are here to see you."

Wow, that was much more polite than 'human toys.' So Rael was capable of being respectful: it was just that enhanced humans didn't deserve that respect? Or was it _humans_ who didn't?

"Mr. Sangeen Ahn and Ms. Yonsu Na," Cadis Etrama di Raizel corrected him. "They were teachers, and honorifics should be used with the names of teachers even if they are younger than us." He carefully lifted the Chairman's head as he stood, with one hand under the back of his head and another under his shoulders, and set him back down on the couch. "Guard him," he said, all without looking at Rael or the new arrivals.

"Yes, sir!" Rael bowed again.

The noble looked down at the chairman and frowned. "Sleep. The nightmares are because I sealed your power for so long: they are my responsibility, not yours." Now he turned to the KSA agents.

Sangeen glanced down at the chairman, who seemed to be asleep, as far as he could tell, before examining the noble.

Seira Loyard and Regis Landegre had white hair, white hair with black patches in Regis' case. After seeing Seira fight the elders, now that they knew those two were nobles, it was possible to notice the red eyes when they came to deliver Lukedonia's initial nonspecific pledge of assistance against the Union to the KSA.

Cadis Etrama di Raizel's black hair made the red eyes stand out more, not less. Silver hair was strange, not normal, ethereal. Probably fake, so it made sense if it was a little too perfect, even if Regis' hairstyle was weird enough to make him look a little less perfect, less like a porcelain doll.

If Rael was any kind of doll, it was a puppet with overly-long limbs about to fly apart into a tangle of strings.

Cadis Etrama di Raizel was… turning his back on them to go to the kitchen. "There is coffee," he said, and when they followed they found him touching a button to fill the cup beneath it. "And tea, if you wish it." In a glass teapot like the one in the chairman's office.

'We're fine, thank you,' was the response prompted by his nervousness about being around someone so powerful, but, "I wouldn't mind a cup of coffee," he said, for the sake of being polite. "Yonsu?"

"…Tea sounds good." A better idea than coffee, when it probably wasn't decaf and they were both nervous.

The noble nodded, and reached up to take two cups and saucers out of the cabinets, placing one under the coffee machine after the first cup was full. As it filled, he poured tea into the other and handed it to Yonsu. There was a deliberate, unhurried grace to every movement that seemed almost regal. The fact he was wearing a high school uniform didn't detract from it: Ye Ran's uniform had a very classic-seeming style, even if students like Shinwoo Han could come _close_ to making it messy enough to hide that.

Once Sangeen had his coffee, the noble picked up his own coffee cup and started to head further into the house. Looking at each other, they followed him up to a second-floor landing and through a nearby door.

The entire house looked like something out of a magazine spread, but for some reason they had the sense that unlike the downstairs living area, the nook up here with a couch and two chairs near a smaller, round coffee table was unused. With at least four nobles and four modified humans in the house right now, didn't any of them have private gatherings, or was it rude to have a private gathering where other people might come by, want to join in and have to stand there without more seats?

Cadis Etrama di Raizel took the chair with its back to the door – a courteous gesture, even if Sangeen and Yonsu could normally sense people coming up behind them – and sat down in it like a king on a throne. Or maybe that was just how he conceived of it, knowing the noble had the power to finish off Union elders, and the Chairman obeyed him.

They sat, and watched him as he sipped his coffee. When he finally put the cup down, he said, "The power that Takeo used was not meant for mind control. Humans used it to speak to noble souls, before either humans or nobles had words. Frankenstein was very upset when he sent Takeo and Rael because he did not know this."

The air of quiet around him made it a little hard to talk after they'd watched him get the drinks, otherwise they might have asked where he was leading them. Although the bigger question was whether or not Sangeen had just heard that.

"Frankenstein?" Yonsu asked. "You mean the Chairman?"

The noble nodded serenely. "The Union told lies about him, both to the humans he protected and the clan leaders, who should have known better." That small, disapproving sigh, or perhaps more disappointed than disapproving, wasn't directed at them, thank goodness.

"So nothing like the book?" Sangeen dared to ask, maybe to make it sure that he knew they were clear that Frankenstein – the _Chairman?_ – wasn't assembling enhanced humans out of body parts or anything.

Trying to think of the Chairman, who was almost as 'too gorgeous to be real' as the nobles and a green-skinned shambling monster with bolts in his neck at the same time was just… but enhanced humans could have transformations.

The noble blinked at them. "You have one of his journals?"

They froze.

"The Union was always trying to steal them and use them to experiment on humans." Another sigh, this time sympathetic. Poor Frankenstein, the noble was clearly thinking.

"I… don't think that's the book we're talking about? It was written by an Englishwoman, maybe a couple hundred years ago? I thought it was fiction," Yonsu said. "It's viewed as the first piece of fiction about a scientist creating modified humans, a new species stronger and smarter than us."

"No," Raizel said firmly. "Frankenstein protected humans. He would not abandon humanity for power, or create children who would think of themselves as something better than humans."

They looked at each other. If that was true, then why was the Chairman serving a noble? The three enhanced humans were talking about an oath of obedience, and then the Chairman kept calling this noble 'Master.' Why was someone with the Chairman's skills running a high school? But then, why were three centuries-old nobles attending one?

The noble elegantly drank his coffee, ignoring them.

"So, getting back on topic," Sangeen said, deciding it was too risky to ask, "what does it mean that it's a communication ability instead of mind control?"

"Humans use words to put a thought into someone else's mind, and if the thought is understood, then it can remain in the other person's mind even when the first person is no longer speaking. They use their psychic abilities like words. Takeo said that he cared for you, and it was the truth, so this knowledge remains."

Sangeen grimaced. Damn.

"If you fear it will interfere with your duty, the memory can be sealed." The noble tilted his head.

"That's not necessary," Sangeen said quickly. "I'm just frustrated that someone can affect my mind and I can't fight it off or get rid of it on my own."

"It is not a consequence of weakness," the noble told him. "You are protectors of the humans of this country. There will always be criminals who try to take the wills of others for themselves. No matter how strong you become, you must still guard yourselves for the sake of those you protect."

"You're saying this is something like theft, or murder," Yonsu said after a minute. "For the nobles, anyway. A type of crime that the police need to be aware of and watch out for, something normal instead of science fiction." When he did not respond, she clarified. "The KSA tries to protect Korean citizens from having Union abilities used on them… or that's what we'd _like_ to do." Her fists clenched in her lap. "In Lukedonia, it's the citizens who are psychic, instead of invaders? That would make it a matter of criminal law."

The black-haired noble nodded. "Those with power have an obligation to protect the weak. The clan leaders are responsible for the conduct of their clans, because of their greater power."

"'With great power comes great responsibility?'" Sangeen nodded slowly. Right, that _would_ explain the attitude of Lukedonia's representatives. "That's not the Union's worldview, but is that how nobles see it?"

He nodded. "Not all wish to acknowledge that responsibility," he warned them.

"So nobles aren't perfect," Yonsu said, although they'd met Rael.

"Two of the Union Elders who came to your country were once clan leaders." Raizel looked down at the coffee cup in his hand, and his eyes were full of sorrow for a long moment, before he got the noble non-expression he shared with Lukedonia's ambassador and her honor guard back.

Huh. So maybe it was a trained poker-face instead of just… something that wasn't human and didn't have much reason to be affected the way humans were looking at them through a mask.

Sangeen reminded himself of Rael again. He'd known there were emotions under there, at least in the younger nobles, like Regis. Some of Tao's comments implied that Regis was still a child by noble standards. Seira Loyard acted much older, but was she? And even Cadis Etrama di Raizel was attending _high school_.

What Rael said about Lukedonia's resources… how big a chunk of their military-age (whatever that meant to nobles) population had they lost? "I don't want to imply anything," or pry, when the Chairman pointed out they had a good reason to _not_ get intelligence on Lukedonia, "but Regis is underage, isn't he? So why is he fighting?" When M-21 got so angry at the thought of students being dragged into this?

"He would not leave," Raizel said, and although Sangeen couldn't read his expression, from the change around his eyes there was something there to be read. Concern, approval, something? "Two hundred is the age of majority, but the Previous Lord decided that well after humans invented the idea of counting years, and the traitors do not respect the authority of the Lords. Being a child in their eyes will not protect Regis any more than it protected his father. The Noblesse and a human are now older than most of the clan leaders loyal to the Lord. The traitors are convinced that they will be easy to crush, but they forget the soul weapons and dismiss humanity."

Dismissing humanity? What were they dismissing? "Are there other humans capable of helping Lukedonia against the Union?" Because the KSA wasn't. More people capable of defying the Union out there, who might be able to give them information on the nobles that might be unbiased? They were lucky to have Rael, to get to see a noble who definitely wasn't on his best behavior.

The noble paused. "It is possible – it is a mistake to underestimate humans – but I spoke of their youth. Humans have invented ways to learn things very quickly. The clan leaders are not as ignorant or unpracticed as one would think from their ages."

"Human ways of learning? Is that why you're all at a high school?" Yonsu asked him.

"I am at Ye Ran because it is the place Frankenstein made for me." Raizel smiled to himself. "It is a good place. Seira and Regis wished to interact with humans and learn about their lives now while in the human world. It was their own wish."

One of the top schools in the country was made for a noble? Well, that might explain why no expense was spared and it wasn't run for-profit. Sangeen took a drink, and it made him conscious of the warmth of the cup in his hands. A hot drink on a cool day, or night, was always a good feeling even after he was modified.

They were going to be making a report on all the intel they'd gathered after this, and their assessments.

Cadis Etrama di Raizel, and Lukedonia's ambassador Seira J. Loyard: they weren't human. The Union's enhanced humans definitely thought that they were something else, something superior, but even the elite Cerberus' members were petty bullies. The worst of humanity instead of the best of it, but still human, even if Sangeen almost didn't want to admit it.

When the girl who'd been a student of his while he was undercover observing Shinwoo and Ikhan as candidates for training came to the KSA's office, it was hard to believe he'd missed the calm nobody the age she looked should possess. The fact there was something else looking out of _red_ eyes… but how much of it was that he knew she was a noble now? It wasn't as though there weren't plenty of strange humans in the world.

Alien meant 'from somewhere else,' and while they weren't human, they didn't seem alien either. The Chairman was a lot stranger. Or maybe it was that he was a strange human, while Cadis Etrama di Raizel and Seira J. Loyard were perfectly normal nobles?

Seira's statement that of course nobles would protect humans, the Chairman saying that was the ancient relationship between their species?

" _Modern humans still subconsciously recognize nobles because our ancestors spent a few hundred thousand years benefitting from the fact that nobles would protect us. It's instinct to rely on them. On some level, Agent Sangeen, you knew they were nobles,_ ' the Chairman had said.

Frankenstein had said.

Even if the noble said the Chairman was the scientist instead of the monster, just the name made anything that came from him more sinister – and that was what propaganda was for. Just how bad a reputation that name had might be proof that they could trust him. Anyone the Union hated that much almost had to be a good guy.

Was that true for nobles, too?

Cadis Etrama di Raizel looked down at his coffee, meditative and… concerned. "You are the protectors of this country, so I hope Takeo's helpfulness will not cause you difficulties."

Sangeen sighed. "That's the question, isn't it?"

The noble closed his eyes, serenely taking another sip of his coffee. "Frankenstein worried about what might happen if you did not learn how to ignore talkative people. You have already heard what Takeo has to say."

That took a second to translate. Mind control was the same as not shutting up to nobles? "The damage has already been done, so if I want to learn how to keep it from happening to me again, it would be a good idea to practice with him?"

Raizel nodded.

"Do you… Were you using mind control on me, to keep me from noticing you in class?"

"Regis was trying to drown out your ability to hear us, since we knew the KSA dealt with the Union," the noble told him. "He did not know that you could not hear us, nor the noise he made." He took a sip of the coffee. "Regis is very concerned with elegance, so he often makes too little noise to be effective. I have not corrected him because it is not necessary to be effective. According to Gejutel, Lukedonia began to cover up the presence of nobles among humans in recent centuries because the Union would take anyone who had contact with them. If a human realized they were speaking with a noble, sealing your memory was part of that noble's duty to protect humans."

Right. It wasn't just a matter of concealing their presence in the country from the Korean government, but the Union was effectively at war with Lukedonia. Sangeen and Yonsu did _not_ need to attract Union attention. They'd gotten it anyway, but if Yuri had suspected they had any information on nobles? If the Union had any respect for the KSA at all, they would have assumed the KSA had information on the threats living in their country and interrogated them to get it. Instead, they'd known that when the Union told them not to investigate, the KSA would have to obey them.

"That's why we have to cover up what the Union does," Yonsu said, glaring down at her teacup. "If word gets out, they'll deal with it, and we have to do what we can to protect Korean citizens from them."

"It will be impossible to protect humans that way for much longer," Raizel said, reaching into a pocket and putting a very sleek-looking cellphone down on the coffee table.

"Yeah." Yonsu said, shuddering. "We weren't looking forward to that." South Korea's, _every_ country's days were numbered the instant the US government let civilians at their military internet technology, but it was too late to stick the genie back in the bottle. "Not that it matters with the Union heading towards coming out into the open anyway." By finally getting around to taking over the world. Her eyes narrowed, looking at him speculatively. "If there's no reason for nobles to tamper with human perceptions and memories once the Union's gone, can we get that in writing?"

"I have no authority to speak for the nobles," he said. "You might speak with Seira J. Loyard, and with Frankenstein once his permission to work is restored."

Yonsu frowned. "He has authority to speak for the nobles?" How did that fit with what Lukedonia's ambassador said, something about the Chairman and Lukedonia answering to two different authorities? "I thought he wasn't…"

"As a human, he is not subject to the laws of nobles, but Frankenstein has always demanded that nobles respect the wills of humans." Raizel didn't smile, but there was a note of fondness in his eyes. "He has considered the question of how nobles should act, to treat humans with the proper courtesies."

It made him look human… no, actually, Sangeen realized. It was reassuring, or good to see that a noble liked a human and didn't mind humans wanting equal treatment. It wasn't human of Raizel. Or maybe it was noble of him.

The enemy of my enemy, and the security guards had saved their lives, with the noble kid joining in.

Beings with mind control who were once worshipped by humans as gods... "What will happen when you guys aren't covering yourselves up anymore?" Sangeen wondered, frowning to himself.

Cadis Etrama di Raizel sipped his coffee thoughtfully, considering his response. "Nobles were separated from humans until you became strong enough that you would first rely on yourselves. Once you are secure in your pride and strength as humans, there is no reason for us to be separate from you."

"What does that mean?" Yonsu was the one to press. "The Union said that nobles used to rule the world."

He stared at them, eyes slightly wide and puzzled. This was the clearest expression they'd seen on him.

They stared back.

"That is not possible. Nobles may only rule over nobles."

Yonsu's eyebrows rose. "The Chairman calls you Master." So obviously?

"And I cannot rule him." Cadis Etrama di Raizel nodded. QED. "As the Noblesse I possess no authority to rule anyone, but nobles may only possess the authority to rule nobles."

Yonsu and Sangeen looked at each other. Was he being disingenuous? Couldn't be, right? Nobles had a lot more power than humans, of course it was possible for them to force humans to do things.

"But the Chairman calls you Master," Yonsu repeated herself.

The noble looked reluctant for a second before saying, "I have told him that I wish to be addressed as Rai."

So the Chairman was ignoring his 'master's' order? There was something about his expression that reminded Sangeen of all those times he'd had to try to remind Yonsu that she wasn't supposed to do whatever it was, their superiors had ordered them not to and it wasn't a good idea, and then honestly Yonsu was just going to go and do it anyway so all he could do was go along with it to try to keep things under some kind of control.

Of course, if he really minded it, then he wouldn't have married her, when that made it his job to be her backup 24/7.

Still felt like he'd gotten the better part of the deal. It wasn't like he hadn't wanted to investigate whatever blew a hole in his country's soil like that.

The noble seemed distracted for a moment, tilting his head to look at the floor. Then he sighed and put down his coffee cup, standing up. "I do not understand why so many people wish to tell humans what to do. I cannot imagine any existence more frustrating."

Sangeen and Yonsu looked at each other when the noble headed down the stairs, shaking his head, but in a house monitored by Tao taking a minute to look around while they were supposedly unsupervised was a dumb idea, one that would forfeit them any trust or goodwill they'd managed to acquire after sending the trainees to test Shinwoo Han.

Under the circumstances, Yonsu was right to stand up to go follow the noble back down to the living room. They might find out something that way, and it would establish that they knew they weren't supposed to be wandering around here without a keeper.

Rael had come to something resembling attention when they re-entered the living room, only with his arm in front of his stomach instead of a hand in front of his forehead to salute. Raizel bent down to touch the Chairman, only for his hand to pass through the man's shoulder.

The image blurred and vanished, disrupted. Was that an aura technique, like Sangeen's knives?

Rael gasped. "That's our clan's technique! I should have realized he wasn't just using an afterimage the first time I fought him`!"

Raizel nodded, unsurprised. "The previous clan leader of the Kertia often came over to play with Frankenstein. He has always learned quickly."

The young noble was blushing, deeply embarrassed. "Forgive me, sir."

They watched Frankenstein's master pat Rael on the shoulder in sympathy. "It is very difficult to stop Frankenstein when he wishes to do something."

Rael blinked at him.

Raizel sighed and confessed, "He said there is such a thing as a type that does not listen. He is definitely one of that type."

"But…" Rael stopped when Raizel turned, heading deeper into the house. Puzzled, Rael followed and the KSA agents did the same.

A wall opened at a touch, revealing a concealed elevator. Since no one told them not to, and Rael looked about as lost as they were, they got in and watched Raizel carefully select a button. It descended smoothly, and opened on an underground lab. Sangeen and Yonsu looked around with wide eyes.

When, and how, had something like this been constructed? They'd known where the Union's South Korea lab was by the construction traces, even if they hadn't been able to do anything about the people kidnapped and taken there! It was a relief when the place was mysteriously shut down.

Did these people have anything to do with that, or were they right originally that it was Union internal politics, like someone getting made an example of?

They saw the Chairman – Frankenstein? – with a lab coat pulled on over the striped turtleneck and dress slacks he'd been wearing, standing in front of a tube. Floating inside it was a man with a hairy chest? No, that definitely wasn't what a hairy chest looked like. Sangeen remembered M-21's transformation. Was the man in the tube a werewolf?

The Chairman must have turned to see them when the elevator opened – it took the two agents a moment to follow the nobles in, giving them enough space and trying to not draw attention to their own presence. They saw him wincing, before he bowed. "Forgive me, Master. I will accept whatever additional punishment I have earned, but I can't allow a patient's recovery to be at risk, _again_ , because of my own transgressions."

"Shinwoo Han believes that 'it is better to ask forgiveness than permission.'" Looked as though the noble knew that was bullshit, though. "Did you think I would not grant my permission for you to fulfill your duty to the sick if it was necessary? I have told you that you must not do anything that risks waking Muzaka when I am not there to protect you."

That blond head bowed before him.

The noble regarded him. "Two additional days," he said, finally. "And I will inform Tao that despite his electronics, he may not dust anywhere but his own room. He may move his babies to the school if he is worried for them."

Babies? Right, that probably meant computers, even if Sangeen hadn't known Tao that long.

"They must be worried that I have missed a day of class," Raizel went on, and hesitated, "I cannot go to school if I cannot trust you to honor the terms of your punishment. In addition, I intended to text Yuna and ask her to restrain the others from bringing junk food this afternoon."

Yuna was one of Raizel's classmates. They'd run background checks on the two members of that group who weren't either confirmed nobles or already-checked-out KSA candidates.

Blue eyes widened.

"Even if you have been naughty, your loyal service and honor earned you that much lenience," Raizel said, looking really regretful, almost as though it pained him to say this. "Yet you have now endangered yourself and the humans of this city because you did not trust that I would restore your permission for anything truly necessary. I may no longer shield you from crumbs and other consequences of your actions."

Wait, what? Damn, he didn't want to get in the middle of this, and this was their chance to observe this lab as much as they could and report to their own doctor, but, "The city?"

The Chairman looked at them, but it looked as though what they were saying was more important than telling them to get the hell out of his lab. "The city, Master?" he asked, regretfully echoing Sangeen's question.

Raizel's red eyes closed. "Muzaka… had a daughter, Ashleen, with a human. Like her mother, she was killed by humans. If he wakes still enraged, he is my friend. It is my responsibility to stop him. If I do not, he will become an offender I must eliminate." He walked forward, past Frankenstein, to put a hand on the tube. "I am glad that you found him, because he does not deserve the Union's cruelty." He turned to Frankenstein to say, "I know I am always causing you trouble. It makes the children uncomfortable to have someone helpless in this lab, and yet I am asking you to keep him here." He looked really bothered by this.

"He was your only friend," the Chairman said simply, compassionately.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Yonsu said quickly, raising a hand before the conversation could get any more sidetracked by feelings, "but are you telling me there's a potentially-berserk werewolf sitting here in the middle of a city like a bomb about to go off? The Union has to be desperate to take you out, and you're not even staying at a safehouse? What happens if they target this place and release him?"

The Chairman raised an eyebrow at them, and it brought back memories of being scolded by teachers. "And what happens if he's at another lab, unprotected? Muzaka was the most powerful Werewolf Lord in their species' memory. Do you want to risk the Union recovering him and arranging for that bomb to go off targeted at the country that's been so much trouble?" Dismissing them, the enhanced human turned back to the noble. "Do you think it would be possible to use the sanctuaries, Master?" the Chairman asked, looking speculative. "Not the one I built you, since you needed to be able to wake up if you wished to, but the ones that take themselves out of time when the way is not open?"

"I know that you will find a way, Frankenstein… but not until your sentence is served."

The chairman bowed. Not quite like a servant to a master. Like a courtier to a king, in some historical drama?

With that settled, the noble said, "If I cannot trust that you will comply with the terms of your punishment outside my supervision, then you will have to remain in my sight while the children are here. I truly wish I could spare you from the crumbs, but it is my duty to prove that you may rely on me to punish you should it be deserved." He looked resigned to his duty, but still regretful. Responsible, but apologetic about it?

Just…

Sangeen rubbed at an eye for a moment.

From the Chairman's doting smile the man thought this was cute?

Cadis Etrama di Raizel gathered his resolve. "If you violate the terms of your punishment a fourth time, Frankenstein, I will take Regis' duties upon myself and clean up after my friends when they visit from now on."

The Chairman let out a strangled noise, face pale.

Cadis Etrama di Raizel sighed, disappointed. "I see you finally remembered that I retracted your permission to speak."

Sangeen saw the Chairman's eyes widen: it looked like no, he _hadn't_ remembered, and if he'd been less shocked and tried arguing first he would have played right into the noble's hands.

"According to Ikhan, many traditional human punishments involve chores," Raizel said, holding up his cellphone. "I have refrained from helping out around the house because you wish me to rest, but I too wish to help everyone take care of the home we have here. Perhaps having Tao instruct me in how to wash the windows after my friends leave will help remind you that I will hold you accountable for your actions."

The Chairman staggered, actually _staggered_ , and from the expression on Rael's face the humans in the room weren't the only ones to think this was insane. Frankenstein reached behind him to take hold of an instrument panel to steady himself.

Raizel put his cellphone back in his pocket and stepped forward to pat him on the shoulder apologetically.

"But… but… For the Noblesse to do chores because of the failings of a human?" Rael protested. "Please, sir, you must reconsider!"

"I took responsibility for Frankenstein's actions in exchange for the honor of entering into a contract with him. I do not regret my decision," Cadis Etrama di Raizel said firmly, patting the Chairman again as behind him, the floor slid aside to reveal a machine rising out of the floor. A chime came from the noble's cellphone as the machine depressurized, releasing scented steam into the air. The top of it lifted up to reveal…

Tea cookies?

He saw Yonsu wrinkle her nose, sniffing the air. Sangeen did the same.

The cookies smelled really good, but no, he wasn't detecting any drugs in the air either.

Raizel turned away from Frankenstein to take out his cellphone again and turn off the alarm, before walking over to the machine and picking up two of the cookies, taking a delicate bite out of one of them.

"But you gave me the responsibility of guarding him!" Rael cried. "For you to disgrace yourself picking up after those noisy humans because I failed in my duties…" Words failed him.

Raizel finished the cookie, walked over to Rael and patted him on the shoulder. "It is very difficult to stop Frankenstein when he wishes to do something. When he was younger, he made all sorts of trouble for the clan leaders. They would come to complain, to me and to the Lord. You are much better behaved than Frankenstein was at that age." Raizel held the second cookie out to him.

Rael took it helplessly.

* * *

 _Frankenstein was like half your age when he came to Lukedonia, Rael. So that's not quite a compliment._

 _There seems to be, or have been, a pretty black and white distinction between legal/rightful authority (where people do things of their own wills, and are choosing to obey) and forcing people to obey you (rule by strength/'or else') among nobles. The first being the authority of the lord, and the second the sphere of the Noblesse._

' _Rule,' since it also means 'law,' would have translated as the first kind (they were asking if nobles thought they were entitled to be top dogs over the weak humans, so that would have implied 'rightful authority' too), so Raizel didn't get that they were lumping them into one category. No, nobles and the Lord have no rightful authority over humans._

 _If they'd asked if nobles were controlling the world, or forcing other races to obey noble regulations, Raizel's answer would have addressed his duty as Noblesse and given a very different picture…_

 _Rai turned down ruling the_ nobles _, and the Previous Lord went, 'Yeah, it's a really frustrating job.' He has no idea why any sane person would want to rule the humans. Imagine trying to tell seven billion Frankensteins what to do! That would be a special hell._


	19. Child Support

_This chapter is dedicated to qdeanna of tumblr, who drew a beautiful short comic of a scene in this fic! I'm using one of the panels as the cover image._

 _We see the 'ra' sound a lot in noble names. We also see –el, which is associated with angel names but actually means god, multiple times… which would make Ra-el the most unimaginative noble name possible. Yay for Ragar's parenting._

* * *

Frankenstein had managed to avoid worsening his punishment a third time - although the image of Master's shirt cuffs soaked through as he washed the windows haunted him. Poor Master, who was always so particular about his clothing! The stack of work that had piled up served as a target for his frustration: once he eliminated it, then he could consider how to extend Master's lifespan. Master had taken so much damage fighting Muzaka that his soul was no longer able to heal: how did that mechanism function? Could it be restored?

The first priority was creating a buffer so Master didn't do more damage to himself. He could be more ambitious once Master had a safety net and Frankenstein had some idea of what he was doing. Frankenstein couldn't test these treatments on himself: he wasn't a noble, let alone a noblesse. Using untried procedures on _Master_ smacked of the Union's definition of 'experiment,' but desperate times and desperate measures.

"Ah, good," he said when Rael arrived, standing up to put one of the stacks in his hands. He was almost glad to see the noble because it meant the removal of paper from his desk. It would be brought back later, and he would have to go over it, but for now his desk was marginally cleaner. "What is it?" he demanded when the Kertia didn't get moving.

"The humans were doing something while you were gone."

Frankenstein had work to do; he did not have time for Rael's nonsense... but instincts honed over centuries kept those words from passing his lips, being thrown in the boy's face. Rael had come back from the school... perturbed on the second and fourth day. He'd wanted to speak to Frankenstein on the second, but listening to complaints was work, so Master had told him to speak to Takeo. "Takeo couldn't help you?" Which meant Tao couldn't either. Or possibly wouldn't.

"He kept them away the day before yesterday, but he had other duties yesterday and the humans _did it again_."

Was Takeo running interference out of consideration for Rael, or to protect the school? "What are they doing?"

"They keep touching me!" Rael complained, blushing furiously.

And yes, he _should_ be furious. Frankenstein straightened, instantly giving the noble his full attention. "Not the staff." On most issues Frankenstein preferred to be the lovable, bleeding-heart eccentric Chairman-slash-principal, but on _that_ one he kept them appropriately terrified.

Rael shook his head.

"Who, and where?" he asked, eyes narrow, tone serious but very little anger showing. He could be angry later, when it wouldn't be scaring a young man.

"The visitors to your office, especially the aging ones." Not 'old people,' not when Rael was over five hundred. It wasn't just lack of respect that made him forget to use honorifics, when his downloaded knowledge of Korean said those honorifics were for people _older_ than him, not younger. The fact that according to that knowledge of the language the humans kept addressing him rudely wasn't helping the pureblood noble. "My cheeks, or my hair! They keep saying my hair is cute!"

Frankenstein winced in sympathy. The worst was ruled out, but he had to show he took this seriously, both for the sake of managing Rael and because it was serious. "That's why I refuse to wear my hair beneath a certain length." He'd cut his hair since Master awoke, but also straightened it, so it wasn't especially wavy except around his shoulders. At least he and Rael didn't wind up with ringlets, but…

…wait a minute. "Lean forward," he told Rael. "I want a look at your hair."

Noble genetics weren't _noble_ genetics. They almost certainly _could_ make their own gene complexes, but that would be work. Their eyes were an exception, likely created by someone who refused to put up with the downgrade to human senses. It might also be worth it for the sake of self-expression.

Frankenstein wished he hadn't had to destroy all the samples he'd taken from the Central Order Knights he'd captured to keep the data out of the hands of the Union. There was so much someone could learn about _human_ genetic history by scanning their DNA. How many genes from lost races, lost _species_ of hominids were kept 'alive' on Lukedonia, the relics of contractors long past?

He wasn't certain what the unspoken rules were (so much was unspoken on Lukedonia and _children_ were precious and anything to do with them was automatically guarded), but he had to wonder about Raskreia's resemblance to Master. A matched set? The Previous Lord had asked Master on multiple occasions to come to the palace and live as Raskreia's older brother… an attempt to lay the groundwork for his plan to make Cadis Etrama di Raizel the Lord instead of Noblesse, in hindsight.

Every so often, Frankenstein cursed himself for letting that chance to get a blood sample from the Previous Lord slip through his fingers. Of course he couldn't have gone back and asked for it later: asking for it as a favor or 'appreciating his generosity' would have meant he had to be _grateful_ to a noble who wasn't Raizel. Jumping on the verbal opening the Previous Lord gave him would have let him think he'd come away the victor with a well-earned prize.

Then again, would the advancement of science _really_ be worth having no idea he'd played right into the hands of that irritating noble?

What was he thinking.

Given Ragar Kertia's… it certainly resembled a crush on the Previous Lord, Frankenstein would have expected his children's hair to be even paler than Ragar's, and where had these waves come from?

Who were Ragar's other options, if he hadn't just used his own blood? Krasis Bluster commiserating on their mutual unrequited crush on the Previous Lord was a possibility. Heaven forbid _Edian Drosia_ : she was Ragar's intellectual peer, certainly, which meant they were suited for each other in one sense, but _think of the children_ who would inherit that double dose of stupidity! Ragar did have the occasional moment of insight, so it wasn't _impossible_ for him to have a child like Rajak, but Edian was _Urokai_ without the emotional problems or ability to notice Raizel's feelings.

Which might explain Rael, true, but wouldn't explain the hair.

Ridiculous, but it would only take a minute for a DNA scan to settle the matter after they got home, and having Rael's data might come in handy in future. For now, "I'll have the Health teacher make up and strategically position a poster. That should handle it: report anyone who doesn't get the message to Tao." There would be no unwanted touching on his campus (Frankenstein's own dislike of being touched had nothing to do with it), and he had more students than just the nobles who looked unusual one way or another. He couldn't have adults coming into his school and providing a bad example. The reserve of Master, Seira and Regis warded off unwanted contact, but now that Frankenstein had stabbed most of the pride out of him, when Rael wasn't in 'I want to stab something' mode he tended to look lost and in need of hugs and/or doing his best to pretend that he was all grown up and absolutely not in need of any hugs or pity, which could be even more endearing.

…for a moment Frankenstein worried what it meant that he preferred having noble children in his home to human children, but noble children didn't leave crumbs everywhere. And turnabout was fair play: if nobles were going to insist on finding humans _cute_ , then they deserved to have humans feel the urge to reassure them and give them lollipops.

* * *

Tao and Rael were staring at the screen waiting for the DNA scan results, fairly wide-eyed at the very idea. M-21 was trying to pretend he _hadn't heard that possibility_ and focus on watching Muzaka and the monitoring equipment.

Frankenstein was going over some Union data that might not be completely useless, so he didn't turn around to look at the results until he heard Rael squawk.

...He'd meant it as a joke, Frankenstein thought, slightly dazed. He'd revealed the possibility in the living room, in front of Master, so Rael had to choke back how he couldn't possibly be related to a human (even if all nobles were, genetically at least). Since Rael took family seriously, the possibility might have made the manchild _think._ Helped get it through his thick skull that humans were people.

It had to be a joke, he thought for a moment, and almost asked Tao if he had tampered with the results to play a trick on Rael, but there simply hadn't been time. No, Tao wasn't going to fool around with that equipment, not when his life and the lives of his comrades might depend on it.

Then it hit him that _this wasn't funny._ "How did that goddamn ninja get a blood sample from me!" Frankenstein demanded, loud enough to make Rael, Tao and M-21 jump. He scowled, glaring at the screen. "The question answers itself." There were also all the times he'd bled all over Ragar and Kartas, but no need to mention that.

Someone had gotten a blood sample from him. Used it to create children... create children used in an _experiment_ , with the divided soul weapon? It was the stuff of countless nightmares.

And it was those nightmares, all the contingency planning for this event, that let him maintain control. Do something _now,_ rage later. "Rael," he said, each word solid ice. "Give me Grandia. I am going to _melt it down."_ Rajak mentioning that Ragar had mentioned him 'often' after he left, Ragar's crush on the Previous Lord… The previous Kertia clan leader's type was _intelligent blonds_ , wasn't it.

Not _that_ foolish, Rael vanished.

Quite deliberately rolling back his labcoat sleeves, Frankenstein stalked upstairs… to find Rael taking refuge behind Master's chair.

Well, he certainly hadn't gotten _that_ good sense from Ragar.

"Frankenstein," Master said calmingly as Regis stared and Seira stayed out of the way drinking tea, making it clear that this was none of her business. "It is something done to remember humans. Not 'sexual harassment.'"

"No," Frankenstein corrected him, "it is." He took a deep breath, flexing his fingers. They'd gone stiff curled into claws, and he made a very deliberate effort not to summon his tainted aura to coat them. "But I couldn't have expected him to know that."

Ragar and Gejutel hadn't known the first thing about how Frankenstein's experiments or human enhancement worked. He'd _checked_ , tried to catch them out. If Ragar took Frankenstein's blood for the sake of power, the noble would have drank the stuff, not used it for this. The Previous Lord would have known: if that cunning spider in gadfly's clothing had put Ragar up to this... So his daughter would have an intelligent and perhaps principled Kertia Clan Leader at her back.

Intelligence, he thought. "I was the one complaining about nobles not _thinking_." Humans were still evolving for intelligence fairly rapidly; if most of Lukedonia's genes were outdated… "I suppose that's where Rajak got his drive to surpass his limitations."

He turned away from them so Rael could relax. "Miss Seira, I will be putting together a report on current medical ethics and laws to consider. I'd like you to send it with your next report to Lukedonia, for the attention of the Lord." He already had Seira and Regis' genes on file. It wouldn't take long to run the comparison – Regis was more likely, but if Gejutel had included 'something borrowed' in Rousare, it could have been part of what the Loyard clan leader copied from Rousare when they were designing their pureblood 'siblings.'

Had he really been so careless with his blood on Lukedonia, in the land of the nobles? Had he been that confident in his ability to fight off even _clan leaders'_ blood-backed mind control?

Was it that he'd been desperate to practice controlling Dark Spear in combat, or had he really trusted Ragar and Gejutel _that_ much? It wasn't as though the nobles, even the vampires he'd fought before, hadn't tried to get their hands on his blood during the fights!

Turning away, he took out his phone and began to type a text to Gejutel as he walked towards his home office. " _Please tell me you didn't use any of my blood to make Rousare."_

Gejutel had picked up Korean on his visit to the country, but Frankenstein should probably make up some keyboards with Lukedonian characters and send one over Air (or rather Foot) Rael. He enjoyed using subtle insults on nobles, and nuances could be lost in translation. Lukedonian was _amazing_ for delivering stealth insults, which made sense for a language (or more a creole, really) developed by a number of very powerful and touchy beings stuck with each other on a small island. While living among the nobles, Frankenstein had found it almost impossible to have a conversation in Lukedonian without insulting someone.

…Although it could just be him, true.

The time it took Gejutel to respond fit a shocked reaction instead of a guilty one. _"Frankenstein, I am insulted that you think I would risk my child inheriting your personality. Where did you get such an idea?"_ Who had slandered the good name of Gejutel's dead son?

That text was followed thirty seconds later, those seconds probably spent in horrified denial, with, _"Please tell me Ragar didn't."_

Another pause. _"He did, didn't he."_

Fairly quickly after that came the message _, "Well, that explains Rael."_

Gejutel's next message arrived while Frankenstein was drafting a letter to Rajak. _"I suppose it could be worse. He could have requested it of the Previous Lord. No, not after the Previous Lord rejected Krasis' request."_

" _Is that why the Previous Lord had equipment for taking and storing blood samples on hand?"_ Frankenstein asked, only half paying attention.

" _No, he invented that equipment himself. He took a great many trips to the human world over three thousand years, searching for humans with particular outstanding qualities for his daughter's sake."_

" _And then he just used Master's blood."_

When there was no immediate response, Frankenstein added, _"He did, didn't he."_

Even Gejutel had to admit that, _"That does sound like something he would do, yes."_

Absently Frankenstein was wondering if he should think about 'back birthday presents' for Rael and most likely Rajak (no, or else he would have to pick some out for the other children and that would remind them of the debatable nature of their ages and the years stolen from them) and if he owed the Kertia Clan child support (no, but he was going to send the full four hundred years' worth just to make the point that _humans had a right to be involved in what was done with their blood_ ).

" _Thank goodness the Lord was created before your arrival. Given how highly the Previous Lord thought of you, Frankenstein, we narrowly escaped a terrible fate."_

' _Terrible fate?'_ Oh, yes! That reminded him. Not that he might have ended up with a chance to gain parental authority over the princess, which would only have been of benefit to humanity, but " _By the way, Gejutel, how soon can you come visit? I want to chop off pieces of your soul."_

But instead of an entertaining response, what he got was, " _I see you've finally realized the Previous Lord's true intention behind leaving Ragnarok in your master's shrine. It's not like you to be this slow, especially when your master is involved."_

What.

The blood drained from Frankenstein's face.

That was… then… that meant…

A portion of the Previous Lord's soul, and he'd _let Master give it to Raskreia!_ With his blessings, because he hadn't wanted anything to do with the Previous Lord stirring up trouble. It was a miracle she hadn't absorbed it into her own Ragnarok on the spot!

Even if he got her to try to give it back to Master, Master wouldn't take back something he'd given freely to its true owner. It would be inelegant. Ideally, the Lord would never personally fight, but with the Noblesse in South Korea at Frankenstein's school? Raizel would feel responsible if Lukedonia was attacked while he wasn't there. He wouldn't consume Ragnarok when that would leave Raskreia with an incomplete soul weapon and a brood of young clan leaders to protect!

The only way to make Master accept Ragnarok _now_ would be to force him to absorb it, and who on earth could make _the Noblesse_ just stand there and let something like that happen?

" _Master, I deserve to die!"_ he screamed internally, collapsing back into his office chair, proper posture forgotten.

While he stared in horror at the screen held up over his head, Gejutel remained oblivious to the fact that the genius Frankenstein hadn't figured all this out ages ago. Good, his reputation was intact, at least. _"I thought that Sir Cadis Etrama di Raizel would absorb Ragnarok to replace the power he used helping the Lord practice her abilities."_ Serving as target practice, Gejutel meant… Or rather providing a powerful enough enemy that Raskreia would be forced to risk damaging her country trying to draw out more of Ragnarok's power without unleashing its more devastating attacks.

So when Raizel didn't see any need either to absorb Ragnarok or enter hibernation, of _course_ Gejutel had reason to think that Raizel had recovered during his hibernation. When in fact he simply didn't want to live at the expense of anyone or anything. Raskreia. His life here in Korea. Was his life really worth so little to him? Of course, when there was so little of it left, and he saw his life as something to spend instead of something worth saving. Worth cherishing.

" _Just don't take the entire thing; my grandson needs a complete soul weapon."_

Oh no Gejutel did _not_ just… _"Your grandson needs his grandfather more. Didn't you hear how he acted when he thought you had been sentenced to forced eternal sleep? He knocked half the Central Order Knights unconscious!"_

" _That was to protect them from finding themselves fighting_ you _, Frankenstein."_

Well, Frankenstein thought, smirking despite himself. In that light, Regis' actions weren't so foolish after all. _"Your grandson has good instincts and an admirable determination to protect his comrades_."

He could picture Gejutel harrumphing at the phone, knowing there was a stealth insult concealed in there somewhere and probably unable to find it because the insult was to the Central Order Knights, who still needed a child to protect them from the scary human despite having centuries to train, instead of to his precious grandson. _"I am more concerned with the fact he took advantage of Karias' honorable impulse to assist a child to land a blow. You are a terrible influence."_

Frankenstein snorted. " _Please. I have never taken advantage of a noble's mercy to the weak in combat, because what mercy?"_ Despite their claim to help humans, the only noble to ever try to ensure that Frankenstein survived a battle with him (other than for the sake of capturing him and exploiting his knowledge to better exploit humans) was… Ragar Kertia, in his first battle against the clan leaders. " _Regis has no subtlety: he takes after you. If he pulled off a sneak attack before he had the benefit of my training, Karias has no one to blame but himself_. _He's the Bluster clan leader, for goodness' sake_." They had a very acute ability to detect when someone was plotting against them. Frankenstein had quite a lot of fun verifying and testing that particular ability using Krasis Bluster's reactions.

" _That clan has always been excitable. By the way, Frankenstein, what is this I hear from Karias? He told Rajak that Rael's behavior was almost tolerable while he was keeping watch over your Master and his household for you. Mind-controlling those enhanced humans, my grandson and a clan leader wasn't enough for you? Now you're adding another pureblooded noble with a soul weapon?"_

" _You are completely wrong, as usual."_ It was probably Frankenstein's fault for not reminding Gejutel that Lagus Tradio was a lying liar who lied, but the real reason he hadn't cleared his name with Gejutel was that the old man was so much fun to tease. " _Even if I was mind-controlling Rael, why are you complaining? It's not as though he doesn't deserve it."_

" _No, of course he doesn't deserve it,"_ Gejutel typed. " _If you were anyone else, I would be touched that you're going to so much trouble to reform Ragar's son. Since it's you, all I can do is be grateful for Ragar's sake that you'd rather turn him into a weapon for your Master's defense than kill him yourself before he can waste any more of Sir Cadis Etrama di Raizel's life. What concerns me is that you are the Bonded of the True Noblesse. Are you certain that you won't draw on any of his power to keep Rael under control? Ragar did give him a soul weapon,"_ Gejutel added, probably trying to avoid implying that Frankenstein was weak.

" _Your head has gone even softer in your old age than I thought if you think I would waste so much as a single second of my Master's life on saving a noble like Rael Kertia,"_ was the immediate response, but then Frankenstein had to blink down at the phone and reach for the computer before remembering that of course his noble anthropology notes weren't stored on this computer. He'd have to go down to the lab.

He should have realized something was up when Gejutel thought Frankenstein was controlling his precious grandson and Miss Seira and just remarked on it, as though he was scoring some kind of point by telling Frankenstein he knew what the human was doing. Nobles took trespassing on someone's will very seriously, and Gejutel thought Frankenstein was the sort of person willing to experiment on children. Gejutel should have tried to make him stop controlling the members of the household, even though the Noblesse's presence implied that Frankenstein wasn't doing anything too terrible.

Instead of accusing him of harming the children, Gejutel had gone so far as to more or less _ask Frankenstein for parenting advice_ , when it came to Miss Seira. So he must have thought that Frankenstein was handling the children not just properly but admirably.

Gejutel predated language: nobles would have _had_ to instruct their children in proper behavior using mind control when he was growing up. By walking them through certain situations? For example, letting them feel how much force they needed to apply to wash dishes without breaking them.

Had the old noble been _complimenting him_ on his ability to be a good parent to that many children at once during that exchange? Then why was there a note in his voice implying that he was insinuating something, or had Frankenstein imagined it?

Frankenstein tried to recall what exactly Gejutel remarked on: two enhanced humans washing dishes, another entertaining guests (when the proper courtesies were so important to nobles, so Tao would have required a lot of instruction if the enhanced human wasn't a natural), Seira cooking, Frankenstein using Gejutel's grandson as a maid… Ah. Regis. That was it.

It would have exhausted even a clan leader to keep specific control over that many people at once, including another clan leader. Here Frankenstein, the noble-hating human, was working his mental fingers to the bone to properly nurture and instruct two noble children? One of them Gejutel's grandson, when Frankenstein had always made such a point of reminding Gejutel that they were not friends and he certainly hadn't gone to tell Gejutel that he was leaving the island and going into hiding to keep Gejutel from worrying about him when he vanished.

" _Don't think this means we're friends,"_ he typed, purely to test if his theory was correct, before thinking better of sending a message like that and deleting it. 'I'm not looking after him for your sake,' perhaps. He could say that it was his duty as an educator to properly instruct children, implying that he had to do extra work because Gejutel's instruction was inadequate...

Gejutel's response had arrived while he was theorizing. _"That's a relief. My apologies for the insult: I know that you won't act improperly when your Master is involved, Frankenstein."_

The old noble knew better than to tell the human anything along the lines of, 'don't strain yourself.' Frankenstein could see through this roundabout way of asking if he was alright without implying that he wasn't up to the challenge. Unfortunately, he couldn't call Gejutel out on it without looking as though he was really reaching to find something to be offended about.

" _Perhaps it just amuses me to have a third pure-blooded noble doing servants' work for me."_

" _That sounds more like you,"_ Gejutel's response came quickly. Probably relieved by the return to normalcy after finding out that Lukedonia somehow miraculously survived two children with Frankenstein's blood, soul weapons and a lack of adequate adult supervision. _"Next you'll have Rajak in one of those pink aprons you made the enhanced humans wear."_

" _Now there's an idea."_

…Come to think of it, _did_ Rajak know how to cook, clean and manage a household? Yes, as the head of the Kertia Clan he would have servants for that, but an adult who didn't know how to function as an adult reflected very poorly on their parents – see Rael. He would have to ask Rajak to include a list of the housekeeping skills he possessed in his response to Frankenstein's letter, and any deficiencies in his education could easily be remedied by forcing Rael to do more chores.

* * *

Rael stared after Frankenstein's back as he left. He couldn't believe that the enhanced human had calmed down so quickly instead of trying to extract Rael's father's soul from him! He shouldn't have doubted Cadis Etrama di Raizel, he scolded himself. Truly, the Noblesse was wise!

"Frankenstein and the previous clan leader of the Kertia were playmates," the Noblesse said, picking up his teacup again.

Regis, who had also been staring after Frankenstein, turned to stare at the Noblesse, a puzzled look on his face. Rael glared at him, but Regis must have realized that he was questioning the Noblesse and quickly composed himself.

"If Frankenstein did not care for Ragar, then he would not have helped him learn," Raizel said calmly. It was the same kind of deceptively simple statement that he had given Rael when Rael asked about the enhanced humans.

When Raizel said that Rael was like his bonded.

"Then… then he does not mind adding his strength to the Kertia?" Rael asked the Noblesse, who frowned slightly.

 _Honored_ was what some human should feel, but then again Frankenstein was the Bonded of the Noblesse. What if he had thought that Ragar's action was _stealing_ from his Master! Rael would be careful not to summon Grandia in that human's presence, just to be on the safe side. He might go crazy.

"He does not mind lending his strength to a friend, or to children," the Noblesse corrected him gently.

"Grandfather said that Frankenstein told him that they would only see him again after he found his master," Regis said, not quite to Rael. "I'm sure the former head of the Kertia clan would have informed Frankenstein of Rajak's existence when he returned to Lukedonia with the Noblesse."

Rai sipped his tea. "Frankenstein would not create human children. The Union would want them." And he would not put them in danger of being forced to betray humanity. "But he has always cared for children, and to have a family is… not bad." He sighed. "The Previous Lord was a very difficult person, which is why he was an excellent Lord."

That didn't seem to follow from what he'd said before, but there had to be a reason… or _was_ that last sentence meant to be a conclusion? Maybe it was just one more piece of data, and Cadis Etrama di Raizel was assuming that they could put the pieces together instead of insulting them by telling them what to think?

The duty of the Noblesse… No, a Noblesse's child would only care about that duty, while Cadis Etrama di Raizel was so indulgent of the children who flocked around him, like Regis. It would surely sadden the Noblesse that his child wouldn't stay in this home, or that he would never have a child to care for… not a child of his own, but when the Noblesse so enjoyed taking care of the children of others? Even _Regis_ and enhanced humans.

 _The children of others_.

Rael's red eyes widened in shock.

When the Previous Lord had wished for Raizel to have a longer, more enjoyable life. The same Lord who worked with Ragar to create a soul weapon for Rael. A second soul weapon for the second child.

A second child. Who still hadn't had his ceremony of adulthood when Ragar went into eternal sleep.

If Frankenstein had found his Master and returned to Lukedonia sooner, when Rael was younger, then surely he would have helped his friend's son Rajak train and discovered that Rael… Was not _alone_ , but…

Being Frankenstein's child, at least the way humans saw things… when Frankenstein was the Noblesse's Bonded, did it make him also Cadis Etrama di Raizel's?

It seemed… farfetched, but the Noblesse had mentioned the Previous Lord, and it was the duty of the Lord to make plans like that, to determine the future of the nobles. If the Previous Lord was concerned with Cadis Etrama di Raizel's happiness, and Rael's father was concerned for Frankenstein's happiness, when the human had assisted him…

Was that the reason for Rael's strange existence, a pureblood who should have had no chance of ever having a soul weapon of his own, or a clan to care for? Ignes was convinced he should have resented his existence, tried to get his brother's soul weapon for himself, but was there a reason for his creation other than trying to take the clan that rightfully belonged to someone else for his own?

His very existence weakened the Kertia, weakened his brother. But, if he did exist for the Noblesse's sake, then that was… that was not something to be ashamed of.

* * *

 _Because it was funny, and a family-focused fic seemed the best place to stick the Rael idea. As people have remarked, Frankenstein has a lot of traits that are normally villain traits, but he has a very firm moral code and sense of priorities. Rael had Ignes' influence, and there's a reason Lawful Good can become dogmatic condemnation – Rael blames all humans for some humans (but mainly the traitor clan leaders) being responsible for a genocide… and then turns around and gloats about how he's going to personally finish off one of the clans targeted for that genocide, because he's a hypocrite._

 _Rael is 'and then Seira will be with me forever once I kill the only family she's got left,' instead of 'Seira will murder me if I murder a child she's responsible for in cold blood after admitting to her face I'm doing it to hurt her like the traitors did.' Wow, he just does not know her at all despite having had two hundred years to learn what she's like – more evidence that whatever he's so obsessed with, it's not Seira._

 _As for Raskreia, in this 'verse the Previous Lord did understand human taboos and why we have them better than that. She's not carrying Rai's genes, her father just wanted them to look like a matched set because plans._

 _The Previous Lord offered Rai Ragnarok and a family: Rai refused both, and the Previous Lord told him that he might have refused Ragnarok for now, but the Previous Lord had other ways to get what he wanted. In the end, Rai did end up absorbing Ragnarok... and Rai also ended up with a family. Just As Planned?_

 _There is a fic on this site that is just Gejutel and Frankenstein texting: it is hilarious, go read it._


	20. Fait Accompli

_At one point in this chapter, Rai gives someone an 'un-Rai-like' look, and there's no opportunity in the chapter to have this OOC moment explained, so forgive me for doing it in the ANs in advance._

 _Know that scene where Rai says that Frankenstein has been 'naughty' and looks at him a certain way?_

 _Most people learn behaviors mainly by imitating others, often subconsciously. In the OVA, there's a scene where someone noticed that Rai's posture was very unlike him, but Muzaka was sitting exactly the same way. So, odds are that since Rai didn't know how to sit around a campfire, he did what Muzaka did. One of the main people Rai interacted with in the past was the Previous Lord. There are a lot of things in conversations that most nobles just don't do, but the Previous Lord was totally willing to do them. That means that for most of Rai's lifespan, he'd be Rai's only example of how to do those things._

 _The naughty line is_ totally _something the Previous Lord would have said._

 _I do want an AU where the Previous Lord_ did _manage to adopt Raizel (I mean, the castle has energy shielding, right?) and what happens because of this when Franken shows up. I love the idea of Frankenstein and Raskreia having a rivalry in the Flashback Era, possibly over 'Big Brother's' attention._

 _I'm afraid that I am now out of pre-drafted chapters. I have a bunch of outlined chapters, but completing the drafts is going to be dependent on my energy levels, which are intermittent._

* * *

M-21 was up to his elbows in the dishes when Seira finally came home from her date with Shinwoo. With Seira gone for the evening, Frankenstein had reclaimed his kitchen instead of viewing it as a chore to assign… but conscripted Rael. Even though Rael had protested that nobles didn't need to know how to cook, he'd shut up when reminded that he was training as Raizel's attendant and what was he to do if the Noblesse wanted ramyeon if he didn't learn how to cook? Takeo had gone to join in and defuse the situation, while Tao went up to his room and M-21 steered clear.

Getting to cook had put Frankenstein in a good mood all through dinner. He really seemed to like cooking, but Seira was his student, and regular practice and getting people's reactions was good for learning that kind of thing. Letting Seira cook dinner most nights was a sacrifice Frankenstein was willing to make for a student.

M-21 turned, suds still on his rubber gloves, the instant Rael let out what he had to call a squawk.

Seira was carrying Shinwoo in her arms through the doorway. The way she was holding him… wasn't that called a bridal carry?

There was no way Seira would be that calm, walking carefully instead of running if Shinwoo was hurt, but that didn't stop M-21 from hurrying over, oblivious to the bubbles dripping on the floor.

Damn, of all the days for Takeo to be on solo patrol: they were going to need all the help they could get defusing Rael. Behind him, Tao came from the stairs: he must have heard Rael's squawk and came running to see what was going on and if it was something good.

"What happened?" M-21 asked, stopping when Seira walked towards the sitting room instead of the lab. It couldn't be anything serious, right? Even if Shinwoo's eyes were closed?

It was only when he followed her gaze to Raizel and saw the Noblesse was still drinking his tea that M-21 relaxed.

"While we were on our date, Shinwoo assisted some students from another school," Seira said, composed and only slightly apologetic. "It seems my emotional control is still lacking." Now she sighed. "It seemed imperative to kiss him. During the fight he was hit in the face, but I failed to make the connection."

If he and Seira had kissed while there was blood in his mouth, and they both wanted to be together? Was that really all it took? They looked at Shinwoo. There weren't any drops of blood around his mouth, but that was what Seira'd been saying, wasn't it?

From the light dusting of pink on Seira's cheeks as she looked down at Shinwoo and the flabbergasted look on Rael's face, it looked that way.

"But that… _that_ human? He sleeps in class! He's perpetually tardy! He makes messes in the Noblesse's house, when that is so painful for one of his hosts!" Rael said, pointing at Shinwoo accusingly as he flailed.

Ignoring him, Seira sat down on the couch, looking at Raizel at the head of the table. "He claims he is fine, and I cannot sense anything wrong. Yet he is so tired."

Raizel nodded. "It is normal for humans to sleep after consenting to a contract. The effort of forming a contract of the soul is a great exertion for them, and they finish adjusting to the bond while they sleep."

"Frankenstein did not mention that."

"Frankenstein enhanced himself so he could go without rest when humans needed him or the Union pursued him. Making the contract did not tire him, and it finished forming before he next slept," the Noblesse said, looking away from them towards his tea as he remembered. "Yet he was still dreamy while our souls entwined themselves until they were content."

Seira blinked. "Dreamy?"

"S' like when it's so warm under the blankets and it's so nice I don't wanna get out of bed," Shinwoo said, and yawned. "It's nice," he repeated himself, the words hazy, leaning against Seira's chest without enough awareness to be self-conscious. "So it's okay to fall asleep, Rai?"

Raizel looked at Seira.

"I was unsure if he might need to be awake to describe his symptoms."

The dark-haired noble shook his head.

Seira let out a little sigh of relief. M-21 had thought she wasn't worried, or else she would have run here, right?

Maybe it was the difference between worry and concern. You worried if there was a reason to be worried, but. Even if you were pretty sure everything was going to be okay; if someone was important to you then you were still… concerned. About them, and making sure they were okay, so it didn't get to the point you had to worry.

"Can I jus' go to sleep?" Shinwoo asked, cracking open a single blue eye to look at Rai.

M-21 wondered why he'd been surprised they were still blue for a second. It wasn't like Frankenstein had red eyes, and he was also… Um, M-21 thought. So Shinwoo and Seira were really going to be like Frankenstein and Raizel? The more he thought about it, the more he realized that Raizel and Seira were both so calm and elegant, and Shinwoo was really strong for an ordinary human, the way Frankenstein was shockingly powerful even for an enhanced human. Shinwoo slept all the time and Frankenstein barely slept, but Shinwoo was dead tired in class because he hung out with his friends (to protect them), and then went and trained for hours, and then had to do his homework and there just weren't enough hours in the day.

Shinwoo might not be a scientific genius, but he _was_ a protective workaholic who didn't put up with bullies. And looked after anyone in sight, even people a lot more powerful than him.

Frankenstein and Shinwoo didn't seem anything alike at first glance, but the more M-21 thought about it, the more sense it made that Rai and Shinwoo had hit it off, when you'd think a noble might find Shinwoo noisy or inelegant? But Rai was used to humans being like this. Or _a_ human being like this, anyway.

Rai nodded, pleased, as Rael squawked again. The Kertia's cheeks were bright red.

Shinwoo grinned, not a sudden flash of one but the moment on slow-motion, struggling against the weight of his tiredness. "Thanks, Rai."

"What are you doing, falling asleep on Miss Seira's chest!" Rael demanded with a flash of fang.

"Rael," Raizel said, not sharply or with power behind it, but M-21 could still hear the echoes of 'Kneel' in that word, the tone of command.

The blond noble turned to him, mouth opened to protest but not daring when this was the Noblesse, not Regis.

"Seira wishes Shinwoo to be by her side, and his soul shares the same wish. The contract has been made." And that was final.

Rael's mouth moved, as though he was saying something but didn't dare make the noise to speak the words.

The Noblesse still responded as though he'd heard something. Maybe he had, when they were nobles. Putting his teacup down, he stood. "It is not your will to be by Seira's side. It is your will to have someone who wants you by their side. Seira cannot give you what you wish for." He patted Rael on the shoulder and told him, "This is your home too."

Sometimes when Raizel said things he was _really convincing_ , M-21 thought, and wondered if it was mind control or just Rai. Or the fact he was usually saying something _very obvious_ , and usually something other people had said before. He wondered if Seira was annoyed that Rael was listening to Rai when he'd ignored her saying this same thing countless times, or just glad he might hopefully knock it off now.

Rael blushed again. "Um… ah! Your tea has grown cold." Glaring at Shinwoo (of course he wouldn't glare at Seira) for the interruption, he stalked off to the kitchen.

"Do you mind if I go tell the boss?" Tao asked, looking up at a corner of the ceiling instead of at someone in particular.

Raizel nodded. "Frankenstein should not be surprised by something like this."

M-21 blinked as Seira looked up from Shinwoo at Raizel. Wait, was he saying that Frankenstein would already have known this was going to happen? No, that would be Frankenstein being Frankenstein, and this wasn't the tone Raizel used when talking about how his bonded was… unique. There was a note that was maybe… disapproving? A little stern? M-21 had learned more about how to read Raizel, but the noble still stumped him sometimes.

Suddenly, he became aware of the weight of the rubber on his forearms. Horrified eyes turned to see the trail of scattered suds between him and the kitchen. Crap! He needed to get that cleaned up before Frankenstein got up here! Or worse, before people stepped on it and sticky soap got tracked over the floor and acted like a magnet for dirt!

He ran for the washcloths as Tao headed for the lab, carefully avoiding the suds.

* * *

Frankenstein crouched down and lifted Shinwoo's wrist to take his pulse, looking at his eyes. "REM state already? Yes, unlike noble psychic abilities, the mechanism behind a human's bonding would be neurological…"

"Do you need me to prep any scans?" Tao asked, hovering.

The scientist shook his head. "Of course not. That would be unethical. Yes, I have performed medical procedures on Shinwoo without his consent on previous occasions, which is unethical," he admitted, "but there's a difference between necessary treatment to save someone's life and merely satisfying my curiosity. This is a natural process, and it's best to let nature take its course. Master and Miss Seira already have him under observation, and that will do him much more good than anything I can do in my lab."

That made both M-21 and Tao blink.

"My sample pool on true contracts is a single person," Frankenstein told them. "An enhanced human, at that." Not even an ordinary one like Shinwoo. "It would be improper to experiment with something so intimate. I have a great deal of data on the mechanics of the criminals' sale of souls and power, but that link is quite shallow, so I know nothing about what potential complications might arise with a deeper link between a clan leader and an unenhanced human, but humans and nobles were forming these bonds for thousands of years. As the Noblesse, matters of noble souls are Master's field, not mine."

Giving up a chance to get data out of respect for Shinwoo's rights, even when he admitted that because he didn't have that kind of data he wasn't an expert? It still jumped out at M-21, but it wasn't that hard to believe anymore.

"My apologies. It is because I lost my control that this happened," Seira said, with dignity.

Frankstein smiled at her reassuringly as he got to his feet. "Honestly, I was expecting it to happen. Ideally when you were older, but better now than in the middle of an emergency, especially if it's putting Shinwoo to sleep like this. Even if this was accidental, at least it came from a mutual gesture of affection. I have no grounds to criticize the way someone formed a contract when I tried to trick Master into consuming my blood." He bowed his head to Rai, looking ashamed.

"Nothing you did was unwanted," Raizel promised him.

Frankenstein still sighed, shaking his head. "I was… not quite myself, after Dark Spear had their hands on me, but I still should have recognized that I was unbalanced and tried harder to keep myself from any drastic action. I _slipped something in your drink,_ Master. There are words for that." Frankenstein scowled at himself, then closed his eyes, bowing his head to his chosen master. "I should have asked your consent, as you asked mine."

"I have already judged your actions," Raizel said calmly. It was a relief to see that Raizel wasn't worried Frankenstein was going to freak out about this. "The proper sentence is what you wished for."

That made him smile briefly. "I would have asked your consent before much longer. The Previous Lord made me realize that I hadn't thought about several things I should have considered. That was embarrassing. If I had acted sooner, then you wouldn't have had to Awaken me."

That made Raizel frown. "To make a contract of the soul lightly is to regard your soul and honor as things of little value." So no, Frankenstein should _not_ have done anything even remotely resembling rushing this. It would have offended Raizel as the Noblesse or something.

"Of course, Master," he acknowledged. "Consenting to a contract thoughtlessly, leaving you bound to an unwilling soul if I was not yet certain of what I wanted? Toying with your feelings like that; I'd be no better than the criminals and those who…" He glanced at Shinwoo and Seira and smiled, changing the subject. "Let me know if there's anything I can get either of you, to help you feel more comfortable. When I made my contract with Master was a very joyful time for me, and I wish the same for both of you."

The way he smiled down at them made M-21 realize that if _he_ had caught the resemblance between the newly-bonded and Frankenstein and Raizel, then of course Frankenstein would have known his students well enough to spot it. Was that why he was okay with this when he was so convinced it was a bad idea for M-21 and the others? Or maybe it was just that it was too late now, what's done was done, and there wasn't any point in worrying the kids or making them blame themselves or each other for a stupid accident.

M-21 looked over at Tao, who was wearing a congratulatory smile, but he was still watching all this closely and he had a mind like a steel trap. He'd be keeping an eye on things… Not that there was anything the three of them could do if it went wrong, what did they know about ordinary relationships?

Hell, they might know more about contracted couples than they did about dating ones, since they'd lived with these two for awhile now and it wasn't like Seira and Shinwoo did date stuff in front of them.

Or would M-21 even recognize date stuff if he saw it?

* * *

The rhythm of sleep drew Shinwoo closer to the surface somewhere in the wee hours of the morning. He drifted, still not technically awake, but even though his eyes weren't open he was _aware_ of his friend nearby. Two more presences were further away, still in the house. One of them felt a lot like Rai, he thought vaguely. Like Rai was in two places at once.

The most important one was Seira, and she was right there. That meant all was well – no, that everything was wonderful – and he let go, falling back into sleep, knowing that he would be caught and held.

* * *

"Honestly," Frankenstein said, shaking his head as he read through more of the captured data. "Seira is the most responsible of the children, and if she's getting accidentally bonded, what next? Tao creating an artificial intelligence, as though there aren't already enough species on this planet? Maybe I should go to the trouble of dying some individual hairs white, just so they can see what they're doing to me."

He was rambling, but if he didn't have this to think about, he'd be distracting himself with something else.

The crunch of Master delicately biting into a tea cookie also helped break the silence, fill the lab with something to help cushion him from the weight of the Union's atrocities.

So many people. So many people dead while he focused on trying to break into the sanctuaries, and spent time creating cover identities and projects like this school that ate up his time. That was the only way to keep himself from drifting into the haze of immortality that swallowed him on Lukedonia, where ten years could pass before he knew it. Ironic that the only way to keep himself from losing time ate up his time. Well, as they said, if you want a project completed, give it to someone who is already busy.

Busy. The school. Their lives here. The Union's activity, although _another_ set of casualties would hopefully stun them into inaction… Long enough for them to try to gather their forces for the next plan of attack, or worse, begin thinking of the tactics of weakness. Like the hostages taken against the Loyard and Landegre. If he could keep them from turning more humans into anything like the anti-clan leader weapons…

Tao's insistence on becoming more powerful, even if the only way Frankenstein could come up with in the timeframe they had was _Dark Spear_. Dark Spear was his burden to bear, but he couldn't condemn Tao to nightmares of standing by uselessly as the people he loved died.

Takeo using a power Frankenstein _should_ have learned more about instead of only caring that it functioned as necessary for him to deal with the Central Order Knights on the KSA.

Finding out he had two adult sons. Well, insofar as Rael qualified as any kind of adult.

Saving Master.

Currently, the only member of the household who wasn't _urgent_ in one way or another was Regis… No, while Regis wasn't making trouble, there was the matter of Gejutel. He might have agreed to remaining awake at the request of the current Lord when she offered to release him, but he had to have had plans to give Regis a complete Regasus.

Tao had told him what Gejutel approached them about at the school on the final day of his first visit to South Korea. _Offering contracts to enhanced humans_ before his return to Lukedonia? Had he been _that_ convinced that Raskreia would send him to eternal sleep, so he might as well strengthen Master's defenders and defenses before he died?

Gejutel wasn't Frankenstein's responsibility, but Regis was, and Regis had lost enough family.

And Muzaka. Master's friend. A parent's grief. A Werewolf Lord's explosive power.

…What.

Frankenstein scrolled back a few screens.

What, they'd done… What? They must have known that wouldn't work, a completely pointless atrocity… but the scientists wouldn't have known when the Elders kept them in the dark, and the Elders wouldn't have cared enough to veto an experiment just on account of wasted lives, murdered _people_ …

He wanted to mourn, to curse himself, but to turn away from this record to indulge his emotions would be evading responsibility. He had to read this. He had to _stop them_.

For the sake of those innocent lives, and the Master who made certain that he was not alone with this.

"By the way, Master," he said. "Thank you for saving my house." Also Frankenstein's son, although he still shuddered to think that his genes had produced Rael. Far too many of his flaws were there writ large, without the sense to restrain or work to overcome those flaws.

He wasn't sure exactly how it had happened, but Master's intervention was the only possible explanation for why Rael hadn't lost it and attacked Shinwoo for 'getting between' him and Seira, the way Frankenstein still lost it enough to forget about the seal when someone threatened Master. Seira was _amazingly_ tolerant of Rael attacking Regis, otherwise Rael would be missing at least one hand by now, but that was because she'd known that Rael was all talk (yet another reason Seira had zero interest in Rael's type) and wouldn't actually have the guts to kill him and be sentenced to forced eternal sleep by the Lord. Also, most of the time it was Regis' fault for provoking him, so Seira would let the immature children play as long as they weren't causing property damage. For one thing, it meant Rael wasn't _talking_ to her.

For Rael to launch an unprovoked (because what Seira did was none of his business) attack on a human far more fragile than Regis even after a contract? For Rael to once again try to kill someone who was now a member of Seira's family? Judging from Frankenstein's own experience, new contracts were… very emotionally charged, and Seira still had little practice restraining herself once she lost her temper.

She might have her act together far more than the other children, but _every_ child in this house needed therapy.

Frankenstein was _very_ glad he hadn't come up from his lab to find a crater and a massive grim reaper hovering over where his house used to be. He had other houses, but losing the familiar environment would increase the stress level of all the children and set back their recoveries. How were they supposed to feel safe in his and Master's protection after a child died under their roof, even if it was only Rael?

"Rael longs for his parent's quiet competence and protection," Master reflected.

Oh? So it wasn't just that he'd projected his own abandonment issues onto Seira, treating her like a child even after she reached her majority? He'd been attracted to her as a mother, or rather parent figure?

"I really don't see the resemblance," Frankenstein said, sighing somewhat theatrically over Ragar's foolishness. Seira was a very intelligent young woman, while Ragar was a space cadet with a crush on the Lord; that was where Rael got this tendency to moon over people who could give him as many glances as he wanted, they were never going to be into what they saw. "But then I suppose when Ragar went to eternal sleep while Rael was so young, he must have seemed wise and impressive enough to a small child."

"Ragar was wise enough to believe in you despite Lagus Tradio's lies and your own behavior," Master chided him.

Well. Well, perhaps. He did have to admit, "It is a shame he went into eternal sleep." Pang in his chest? What pang in his chest?

Master nodded sympathetically.

* * *

Shinwoo didn't feel tired at all when he woke up. Normally it was a lot of work to wake him up in the mornings. Between hanging out with people, then training, and then realizing 'oh yeah, homework,' he just didn't end up with a lot of time to sleep. He'd definitely wake up if one of his friends was upset, thought.

Now that he could sense that, anyway. Which was really cool.

This wasn't the time to think about it now. He looked over at Seira, tilting his head at Rai. Why was Rai upset?

She blinked at him: she hadn't been aware that Rai was upset.

Oh, right, Seira was too polite to stare at people a lot, so she might not have picked up on the difference between Rai drinking tea when he was just chilling and Rai drinking tea when he was bothered or something or out of his depth and trying to pretend there wasn't anything going on.

"Hey, Rai?" Shinwoo said, getting his attention. "You shouldn't feel bad about us getting involved in any of this. It's not like you wanted bad guys to show up. And the contract," which was why he couldn't be left out of this anymore, finally, "is totally an accident."

"Accident." Rai gave him a very un-Rai-like look. "As accidental as blood in my tea."

Shinwoo winced. Caught. Oh, so that was why Rai felt hurt. "We weren't trying to lie to _you_. Just… Ajussi, and everyone else… They wanted to protect us, and I didn't want to… if it just happened, then…" Um, how was he supposed to say this?

"You did not want to make them think that you did not value their will to protect you." Rai nodded and Shinwoo relaxed.

"Sorry," he still said, scratching the back of his head. "We thought you'd probably figure it out eventually, but I didn't think it would hurt your feelings." It really wasn't like he didn't trust his friend!

Rai's eyes closed. "You too have decided to protect the home you have here."

Shinwoo nodded. "Yeah," he confirmed, since right, Rai wouldn't have seen the nod. "I only got to stay with Yuna and my friends because my dad didn't want to pull me out of Ye Ran. The Union's not going to stop coming after my friends, right?"

Rai hesitated, but, "There is protection for you and your friends in knowing nothing…"

" _You're_ my friend!" Shinwoo interrupted him, pushing away from Seira and leaning towards him. "They're trying to kill _you,_ and the Chairman, and Ajussi, and they already killed Seira and Regis' parents and Ajussi's comrade! When Tao explained about the Union, I thought that without any power there wasn't anything I could do but get in your way, but if there's a way then I'm not standing around while those bastards kill my friends!"

A flash of cool silver in the back of his mind.

Seira.

He ducked his head, grinning and blushing like an idiot. "Sorry, Rai, didn't mean to yell at you."

"Yuri reported to the First Elder, and Frankenstein told me the fate of his student in the past," Seira said. "Our friends were already known to the Union, and the memories were suppressed, not erased. The traitor clan leaders could have obtained information from them despite the memory suppression. You must know that their safety was not ensured."

Rai nodded, conceding Seira's point. "I left it up to Frankenstein's judgment, but you are right that he was affected by the loss of his student." So it wasn't exactly an impartial judgment. Shinwoo wasn't going to blame the Chairman for grasping at straws to protect them, but he wasn't just going to put up with it either.

"And I did not wish to lie to someone I was courting," Seira continued. Concluded.

Seira really… she really wanted him, Shinwoo thought. Felt. _Knew_. It made him feel stupidly happy – there wasn't room for anything in his head but all this happy. He grinned over at her, and when her cheeks were dusted with pink he just had to pounce on it and kiss them.

It wasn't like she was going to try to stop him, but he still felt like he'd won something, everything. He'd gotten to kiss her cheek, just because she liked him back.

It was nice to feel that Rai was happy for them, although they wouldn't have let even Rai separate them. "I thought this would be weirder," Shinwoo said. "It can't all be this easy, but that's what training's for."

Rai nodded. "You should start training before Frankenstein figures out what you have done." That the Contract wasn't an accident.

Shinwoo nodded. "Yeah, I don't want to worry the Chairman; I'm definitely going to work hard." He already trained so much he had a hard time fitting in homework and sleep, and that was when he hadn't known that everyone's lives were on the line. Just felt that his friends were in danger in his heart somehow.

"Frankenstein will understand a human taking risks to gain the power to protect. He will approve if you do not simply rely on that power."

"He'll be a lot happier with me if I train, gotcha." Shinwoo grinned. That wasn't going to be a problem, especially now that he could train with Seira.

"How did you know that we made our contract knowingly?" Seira wondered.

Rai blinked at them. Shinwoo could read the question on his face, in the air around him: it wasn't obvious?

"I guess, if someone knows us as well as you do," Shinwoo said cheerfully, relieved.

Rai turned slightly to Seira. "You should introduce him to your parent. Their sleep will be far less troubled, knowing that you have someone who makes you happy."

Shinwoo frowned: wasn't Seira's parent dead, or in eternal sleep but that had sounded like death to him?

Seira blinked, then started to smile, and he could feel the delight under her composure as she nodded formally. "I will do so."

Rai nodded, sipping his tea, and they sat in silence for a bit as Shinwoo turned his head looking back and forth between them, wondering what was going on. Seira would explain if he couldn't get it, so he didn't say anything. He didn't want to interrupt them when they were both feeling happy and calm like this. He wrapped his arm around Seira's shoulders and leaned his head against the top of her head. Shinwoo knew he should get training, but it was nice to fall asleep with Seira there.

That was when he realized he'd thought about _sleeping_ and Seira, and on the couch with people there was a sleepover, he had those all the time, but…

Seira reached up and patted his cheek, and it was when he felt her cool hand that he realized it must be flaming red.

There was a clink as Rai put down his cup and looked up from it slowly, giving Shinwoo some time to compose himself, although that was hard. "There are souls I wish to speak to, but they reside within Dark Spear."

"If you have found a way to help Dark Spear, assisting you is the least I can do for the sake of my teacher," Seira said.

Shinwoo's friend shook his head. "Dark Spear is kept from eternal sleep. Their dreams are born of madness, not rest, and you must not walk in them," he warned her. "I wish to speak with Cetus."

Seira's eyes narrowed, and this time the cool emotion Shinwoo felt from her wasn't calm, but anger. "Roctis Kravei."

"He is among them," Rai acknowledged.

Shinwoo's girlfriend calmed herself, picking up her own cup of tea. "I would be honored to assist the Noblesse," she said, and even though she looked totally serene and above any petty thoughts, Shinwoo just knew that she was so at peace with the world because she was looking forward to something nasty coming that bastard's way.

There was no way Rai was fooled for a second either, but although Rai didn't know a lot of modern stuff when he came to Korea, he was already some kind of expert at staying out of things when he didn't want to get involved, so he just drank his tea.


	21. Heirlooms

_Wondering if Tao has any corvid DNA in there because seriously._

 _There's that 'love is biochemically indistinguishable from OCD' thing, and Frankenstein is very prone to being obsessive about things. Even if he wasn't an enhanced human, given his unusual personality, level of trauma and neurotype his relationship with Raizel should really not be used to guess at how humans in general are wired in the fic. (Also he worries). I also have headcanons re. what the Noblesse is and what it means that Raizel's soul is a soul weapon – that's why I have Frankenstein say that he really has no baseline on true contracts, the two of them are too strange to be any kind of barometer for what's normal._

* * *

Mind working double-time as Frankenstein poured Raizel's tea, Tao put a smile on his face. Standing there in the lab he kept himself from fidgeting, trying not to feel vulnerable and exposed.

Not _exposed-_ exposed, he was still wearing his uniform, hadn't even had a chance to take the armband off, but he'd almost rather be naked in a tube than here alone, without Takeo and M-21.

He'd _noticed_ that Frankenstein never called them down one at a time; it was a good idea, so they didn't feel singled-out, so they felt like they had back-up and weren't so scared. Trying to get over that fear of labs was why Tao talked Takeo and M-21 into helping bring down the picnic table with the umbrella that first time, showing up early for their check-up so they could be in the lab without a scientist looking them over.

This wasn't the first time that Tao had been in Frankenstein's lab without either Takeo or M-21, of course. When Frankenstein gave them all that data on their enhancements, Tao had started trying to read it all before planning getting to Lukedonia instead. One look at that data was all it took for Tao to know there was _no way_ he was copying that onto the setup in his room. Sure, that was his rig, but any security was only as strong as the weakest link, so you didn't go adding unnecessary links into your chain.

M-21 and Takeo weren't that interested, even though they _should_ have been. Sure, it made sense: none of them liked the idea of data about their bodies and experiments on them, but this was data for _them_ , so they could survive without being chained to a scientist! They'd kept him company for a bit, but they all had things to do. Tao especially: he had to buy a pillow, and more ramen, and sneak into Takeo's room to repack Takeo's gun case…

They'd also set up shifts to make sure they didn't go too long without someone checking up on Muzaka – thankfully Rael could do it most of the time when they were at school - and they were _busy_ so it wasn't rare for someone to come down here alone.

Well, being alone in a lab wasn't scary, it was an _opportunity_ to maybe hack in and find out what they were planning to do to you. It was being stuck there with scientists and no backup that didn't end well. But even if Tao swung by the lab and found Frankenstein in here reading up on the Union data, it wasn't really scary because _Tao_ was the one who decided to go by the lab, and Tao who decided when he'd leave, without much more than an absent nod from Frankenstein.

So if he wasn't anxious then, then why was he anxious now? It wasn't like Frankenstein was a regular scientist, and Raizel was here! Tao had to be reading too much into this. It wasn't like Frankenstein had asked Tao specifically to join him in the lab instead of all three of them because he wanted to get Tao alone, it was probably because Takeo and Rael had an appointment with the KSA and M-21 went with them because he didn't trust the KSA. Tao would have gone too, to get a look at the KSA's new comm center and what the procedures were for planning purposes, but he had a project he was working on…

But Frankenstein had known about that scheduled visit, and he was the one who'd idly given Tao the idea for his project yesterday, when he knew how Tao would get on that immediately.

Tao's eyes widened when he realized his suspicions might be correct. This really might be a set-up to get him down here by himself without the others worrying when they were left out.

Was Frankenstein taking longer than usual to be sure that Raizel was comfortable with his seat and the new cookie recipe before turning to Tao? From a Union scientist, that'd be another bad sign, that he wanted Tao to squirm, but this was Boss so he was probably giving Tao a chance to compose himself and get a handle on the situation.

Once Frankenstein had put the teapot back on the little cart, he turned to Tao.

"So, going to tell me the reason you called us here today?" Tao asked disingenuously.

"Normally I'd have this type of conversation on the balcony," Boss said, "but apparently there's a secret involved that isn't ours." He glanced at his master, then at the elevator doors. "Miss Seira should be joining us soon. Would you like a cookie while we wait?"

Giving him something to take his mind off worrying about what was up? Tao's survival instincts screamed at him that _the cookies smelled different today_ , but this was that recipe Seira'd been working on – she used Regis as a taste-tester, her trials of new recipes weren't as elaborate as Frankenstein's – and it couldn't be drugged. Not if Frankenstein had served it to Raizel. Oh sure, Frankenstein knew more about Tao's drug resistances than Tao did, so it'd probably be easy for him to figure out something that would hit Tao and not Raizel, but he wouldn't offer cookies meant to poison someone else as a gift to his master. Letting him know that Miss Seira was coming was good too, since there was no way she'd put up with scientist stuff!

When Seira came down, he saw her smile when she noticed that he had a plate of her cookies and was eating them with evident enjoyment. Tao smiled back. "So! Now that everyone's here, what's this all about?"

Seira and Frankenstein both looked at Raizel. That made Tao blink. He thought this was something Frankenstein came up with and Raizel was here as supervision… No, moral support. But Frankenstein had set up this meeting without even asking what this was about?

Sure, if it was something Raizel wanted. Boss would know it couldn't be anything bad.

Raizel put down his teacup on the picnic table. "You wished for the power to protect your comrades," he said, looking directly at Tao.

Tao nodded. "Yes, Sir. Power that doesn't sacrifice anyone but myself." He looked at Rai hopefully.

Those red eyes were sad for a moment, and Tao wanted to rush to apologize for doing that to him, but he couldn't quite regret it, not really, not if it kept everyone safe. That was half the problem: he was worried about what he might do, in the name of keeping everyone safe. But the sadness vanished as Raizel said, "That should not be necessary." Now he turned to Seira. "I asked for your assistance in this matter yesterday."

Yesterday? Yesterday was when Seira came home with Shinwoo after those two had been going off alone for weeks, and Tao really had to admire Seira for it! He wasn't going to spy on date stuff, and everyone had tried to ignore that Seira and Shinwoo had their heads together in corners all the time because no one wanted to mention it in front of Rael and set him off.

Something as big and exciting as a new contract, one like Boss' contract, and Raizel still remembered to talk to Seira about Tao?

Seira glanced at Tao and Frankenstein, then let out a little sigh. "You wished to speak to Cetus?"

Wait, Tao knew that sigh. Was this the 'secret that's not ours' Frankenstein mentioned?

From the way Frankenstein's eyebrows had just risen, it didn't look like he'd known about it.

Raizel nodded regally. "Is it possible to bring Tao with me?"

Seira blinked, then realized. "Because of his modifications? I do not think they would make a difference." When the Noblesse responded by looking in Tao's direction, Seira did the same. "It is always dangerous for a human soul to leave their body," she said after a moment.

Tao tilted his head. Human souls leaving their bodies? So Boss was going to give him part of Dark Spear finally?

Seira continued, "The Loyard have never sent humans to visit the sleeping lightly. Their souls were often torn apart by grief, wounded enough that they were in more danger of dying if they stayed than if they made the journey. Tao will not fall apart, and he has comrades to return to."

Raizel nodded his thanks and turned to Frankenstein. "Would Tao be able to bear the weight of Cetus?"

Tao held up his hands for a time out. "What's Cetus?" Couldn't be the constellation. But constellations were often named for stuff from mythology and nobles _were_ mythology and, "Is it a soul weapon?"

"The soul weapon of the Kravei Clan," Frankenstein said, not in lecture mode but slow and thoughtful. "It was absorbed into Dark Spear along with Roctis. A human hosting a noble soul weapon?" Interesting theoretical problem, sure, but this wasn't just theory, from the look of concern on his face as he examined Tao. "Not if it struggles. I've been shoring up your ability to defend your soul against attacks from inside your mental barriers in case I couldn't come up with anything better than Dark Spear, but the souls of clan leaders are an entirely different matter. I could weaken them first, but if they're lucid enough to notice it would enrage them. If they don't notice it might even be worse; clan leader souls bleeding uncontrolled power into a human's mind…" He shuddered slightly, turning back to Master. "Even I couldn't keep Tao from becoming a mutant under those circumstances."

"I hope to have their assistance," Raizel told him. "He is not their child; sadly the weapon would be incomplete without the bond of love."

"Yes, an awakening is out of the question," Frankenstein agreed with a grimace. "But Dark Spear wouldn't give him access to that either."

Yeah, it would be _nice_ if Tao didn't have to rely on Raizel if he ever needed an awakening again. That was not fun.

"Tao may not even be able to summon it," Boss went on. "Dark Spear summons itself – the invocation is a trigger phrase for releasing the shields that keep it from manifesting," he explained to Tao and Seira.

Seira nodded as though that made perfect sense. Seeing Tao's questioning look, she explained that, "It is an effort to summon a soul weapon. Especially without an Awakening, there is a limit on how long even someone like Sir Gejutel can keep Regasus from returning to a deeper slumber. Yet Dark Spear emerges when Frankenstein is distracted, not when he is focused."

"If Tao needs them, Cetus will hear him and come to his aid," Raizel said, utterly certain. "The soul weapons are born of a parent's wish to help their child, even if they must drag themselves from eternal sleep."

"He's not a pureblood, a member of Clan Kravei, or even a noble, Master." Frankenstein looked thoughtful. "I suppose I could try to modify his aura to give off the right signal, if I can get samples…"

"Tao is a human," Raizel said, picking up his teacup from the table and taking a sip.

"Master, if the soul weapons could be summoned by any child, they'd be constantly manifesting all over the entire planet."

Much to Frankenstein's evident surprise, Raizel nodded… but then his eyes went dark and he looked down at his teacup. "Not all over the entire planet. The contractor of a clan leader could summon a soul weapon and survive, if the clan leader could help them keep control over that power. A human child close enough to a clan leader for their soul's cries to reach the soul weapon…"

"Would not end well," Frankenstein said, wincing. "But it can't be possible for noble children to do that, or… something would have ended very differently."

"The soul weapons can only hear purebloods of the direct line," Raizel agreed.

"That means that in at least one respect, humans evolved to be better at summoning noble power than nobles are," Frankenstein realized. "And I thought I was letting my opinion of human potential and noble training warp my perception of a limited data pool. But summoning noble power and controlling it are completely different mechanisms, and the second would have lagged behind the first. The first time it happened was one of the last straws before the nobles were ordered to Lukedonia, wasn't it?"

"A way was found to prevent it, but the fact it happened at all was… one of the reasons for certain events." Raizel gazed down at his tea for a moment. Tao didn't like that look. His eyes seemed unfocused, like he wasn't really here, and he looked so _sad_. "I can restore a clan soul weapon's permission to hear a human, but only if Shinwoo can survive calling on the energies of Death Scythe."

Frankenstein winced. "Master… can I please have at least enough time to get a baseline on Shinwoo's true contract before anyone discusses modifications with him?" Boss asked his Master. "You know Shinwoo: we can't let him jump into something because he feels obligated to protect his friends."

Raizel just looked at him.

Frankenstein pinched the bridge of his nose. "The _Loyard_ soul weapon… he may not have that time. Can we discuss this later?" He smiled for Miss Seira. "As long as he stays out of deadly danger there shouldn't be an issue, and right now we need to focus on Tao."

Seira did not look amused.

"…Yes, ensuring a patient's survival takes priority over further enhancement," Frankenstein admitted sadly. "Jamming Shinwoo's aura is the quickest stopgap. I can put together something to do that tonight, if I can borrow one of the charm bracelets, Master?"

Rai nodded and unclasped the bracelet on his left hand, setting it neatly on the picnic table.

"I was planning to bring Shinwoo and Miss Seira to the island tomorrow, so Shinwoo could get some idea of his own strength and get down at least the basics of concealing it," Frankenstein said. "If he might end up flooded with uncontrolled clan-leader-level energies, he may need to remain there longer than planned." Otherwise he might slip up and damage the school! "If I'm going to extract Cetus from Dark Spear, I'd better do it there – that lab is expendable. If Tao wants to try to go through with this…" He trailed off, giving time for Tao to nod rapidly. "I don't know how the Previous Lord managed to keep Ragnarok manifested in your Sanctuary for so long, so we would have a limited window before Cetus needs either settle in Tao or go back to Dark Spear."

"The coffin," Raizel said.

"…Oh," Frankenstein said, sounding a little disgusted with himself, as though that should have been obvious. He rolled his eyes. "It was _your_ Sanctuary, so of course it was designed to help keep soul weapons physically manifested. And here I thought the Previous Lord had done something impressive."

"Oooh?" Tao asked. If there was a limit on how long even nobles could keep soul weapons out, and he was a human trying to use one, then if there was some way he could use it for longer he wanted to know about it.

"Sir Gejutel said that Sir Cadis Etrama di Raizel's blood and noble soul are his soul weapon," Miss Siera said. Tao couldn't be sure, but he thought she was paling as she looked at Raizel.

If nobles _were_ their souls, then, "You're a soul weapon?" Tao asked Rai. Wait a minute! Jaw dropping, he turned to Frankenstein. "You have _two soul weapons?_ That's just cheating!" He should have tried to make a joke about that, about how Boss was just unfair, but he was unfair on _Tao's_ side and that was just _awesome_.

"Why thank you," Boss said, smirking. "I worked hard to be this OP. All that tea didn't make itself."

Raizel sighed.

"No, that's even better!" Tao said. "You got a soul weapon," he swallowed, "by making tea, and…" By being nice to someone, he realized, going silent. And wasn't that how Frankenstein had gotten Dark Spear, because he rescued them from the Union and couldn't just let them fall apart and be all the way dead?

Now Boss, he could have tried to get Cetus for himself, but he wasn't just willing to share a little bit of Dark Spear's power with Tao, he was willing to go along with his Master's plan and just _hand over_ the power of a god to some random Union modified human who nearly got Ikhan killed, and…

He heard Raizel set his tea on the table. Boss' Master started to get up, but before he did Tao felt a hand on his head and looked up to see Seira patting him, the way she did Regis sometimes when he did something cute. But Tao didn't think he'd acted like a little unicorn in shining armor lately… Oh, he realized, taking the handkerchief she was holding out to him. She was trying to make him feel better.

There was water in his eyes.

* * *

"Master, I take it that you're going to insist on giving away a second soul weapon?" Frankenstein asked when Tao had taken Seira's request to help Regis taste-test more cookies as an excuse to run away from too many feelings.

Master didn't dignify that with a response.

"Thank you, Master," was all Frankenstein could say, bowing his head.

Raizel looked surprised for a moment, tried to hide it, and then gave up in the face of Frankenstein's smile.

"Yes, Master, I did eventually find out that the Previous Lord left you Ragnarok to restore your lifespan." No need to mention it was because of Gejutel. "Giving up the time Cetus could give you for the sake of that child…" Tao wouldn't have waited tamely for Frankenstein to get around to finding an alternative much longer, not when he was a tactician and knew that any silence from the Union meant they were busy gearing up.

"You were nearly forced to inflict Dark Spear on that child because of my selfish request," Raizel said, turning away from praise he felt was undeserved.

"Your request for me to grant Tao's wish, so he didn't have to watch his comrades die," Frankenstein reminded him. He closed his eyes, bowing his head before Raizel again, feeling the warmth rise in his chest. He wasn't going to cry, not like Tao, because he was _used_ to this. He'd found water in the desert and now he was used to that balm, could truly believe that it was _real_.

He'd thought that he would be forced to let that child be tortured because he couldn't find a way to let Tao survive and keep his loved ones without Dark Spear, and it was his Master who found another way?

"Humans love so much and so easily," Raizel said. He'd said something like that before, but this time it wasn't just Raizel's humility, wasn't the Noblesse insisting that Frankenstein was the praiseworthy one.

It sounded like a quote.

Frankenstein's blood ran cold. _Nobles were empaths_.

If someone tried to use them, abuse their trust and power, they would know, but real, genuine love?

Humans loved each other because it was one of the cardinal virtues: one of the greatest sources of _power_ in existence.

Nobles would choose to give up their lives, surrender their souls and go into eternal sleep for the sake of their children. Because they _loved_ those children.

He knew from his attempts to fight the criminals that humans could be irrational when it came to nobles: Oh, humans could be slavishly devoted to other humans, could trust other humans beyond all reason, but too many people grew fixated on nobles they'd barely met, who hadn't even bothered to mind control them, for it to be a coincidence.

At the time, he'd thought that trait was humanity's weakness, something of benefit to the criminals, but with the revelation about how human psychic communications functioned? Had humans evolved to feel that love simply so nobles would return it? So nobles would give humans contracts. So nobles would come to the assistance of humans, because helping the people you loved was just what you _did_.

Humans made nobles love them, and then those humans _died_. Lukedonia's demographics…

"We were a virus, weren't we?" he said quietly. "Getting inside your heads," when a noble's mind was their blood and soul. "Stripping you of resources to make more of ourselves. Evolving too quickly for your defenses to cope." And then his eyes widened again, because Raizel, because the Noblesse, was the defender of the nobles.

And Frankenstein had found Raizel, and now Raizel loved him. Raizel would sacrifice his life for humans.

He… was what he was the reason Raizel was dying?

Raizel frowned, and anger flashed on his face, there and gone. Was he… no, he wasn't angry at Frankenstein. At his Bonded's self-hatred? "Humans are not responsible for the weakness of nobles. A noble who cannot maintain their integrity will eventually need to enter eternal sleep." One way or another. "You could never shorten our lives. Here, in this place … each day is a millennium."

Counting years… the older nobles had no idea how old they were because counting years was a human invention. For Raizel, in that manor, ten years was no time at all before Frankenstein came. For every day since to be filled with more joy, more wonder, more happiness, then the millennia without him?

"It is the Noblesse's duty to protect nobles from ourselves, not humanity's… And yet you have always taken that duty upon yourselves. You have always helped the nobles." Raizel smiled. "The first time I met humans, I concealed my aura so that a noble criminal would not be able to detect me, yet a human child sent me to safety and then went back to help another. With the little power she had, this human was able to save me from a noble. Imagine… No. I do not have to imagine what humans will do once they possess the strength of nobles. I have met you."

Frankenstein laughed despairingly. "I know you've attended history class, Master."

"Humans do not have a monopoly on wars, Frankenstein. You are not the only species that has attempted genocide. Those who say that humans are crueler to each other than nobles and werewolves lie. Of the species that nobles can contract, you are the most peaceful. Of the species on this world, you are the most caring." Raizel sighed. "I should not need to tell _you_ that humans are not inferior to nobles." His expression gentled. "Perhaps it is because you expect so much of yourselves, because you work so hard not to harm others that you only see your failures." He paused. "Frankenstein… You have imagined what it would mean for humanity when you finally come into your potential. Save for the Lords, you are the most intelligent being I have ever sensed. Perhaps you can understand what the Lords saw when they looked at humanity."

The Lords were responsible for the future of the nobles. What could possibly be so important about humanity that it was worth exposing nobles to the risk of extinction? That it was worth the confinement to Lukedonia, the previous generation of clan leaders going into eternal sleep so that a younger generation would be dealing with the advancing human world…

No, he was thinking too narrowly.

The Previous Lord would not have abandoned his daughter to a future certain to contain wars unless it was _better than the alternative_. Why would a parent take that risk?

Why did a loving parent take _any_ risk? In the hope of making things better for their children. Because the prize was worth the risk of leaving that child orphaned, or because they didn't have a choice, they needed to put food on the table or that child would die.

Historically the only significant threat to noble lifespans was loss of integrity and the ensuing madness or loss of will to live and eternal sleep.

He shook his head. "Master, I fail to see how humans can help nobles remain awake." When they presented nobles with so many temptations that could damage their integrity. "We're not wired for immortality ourselves: how can we help you remain yourselves over millions of years?" Then again, they weren't wired for immortality _now_ , but nobles would have noticed that humans evolved so very quickly, and Frankenstein was still… functionally sane after a thousand years.

"Easily," his Master said simply, frowning and looking at the charm bracelet on the table. "It is because of you that I had the will to make a sanctuary after inflicting even more pain upon my friend. I did not wish to live for my own sake or the sake of my duty, but I could not die when you were waiting for me to return to your side."

He bowed his head, heart aching with grief. "Master…" He wished that Raizel could forgive himself for his duty, understand that his life was precious… but Frankenstein himself knew that Raizel considered Frankenstein's life far more precious than Frankenstein did.

"I can survive without ramyeon, but it makes me happy and I do not wish to go without it." Enough his once-passive Master was willing to insist on something for himself. "I am not a human; food does not benefit me, not even ramyeon. _You_ benefit me. My friends, the children… You made me wish to live, Frankenstein, when before my existence was little different from eternal sleep. The window was enough to make me decide to remain awake, but no more than enough. Humans are precious existences," he said, as he had said before. "You turn the loss of innocence into compassion. You turn death into a way for other lives to survive. You love so much, and so easily. You even love your enemies."

In Raizel's eyes, the species that Frankenstein wished to protect? They were a species that survived though cooperation, that considered love the greatest of all powers. A species that tried so hard to save others, even though they could only keep themselves alive a hundred years if they were lucky.

' _But we_ hurt _you,'_ he wanted to wail. ' _We act upon your minds, invade your very souls and take them for our own for the sake of power.'_ Human need… Was he using Raizel? Was he the reason Raizel was using himself up?

Yet that was why so many poisons could be used as medicines: A chemical that couldn't affect a system of the body couldn't help it, either. Something without the power to harm couldn't possess the power to heal.

He'd said it himself, hadn't he? Explaining the Noblesse to the children. Before modern times, before the enhancement technology created by a human, there were no threats to the nobles but _themselves_. Nothing with the power to harm or help them if they lost the war with their inner demons but the Noblesse and the Lords, two beings burdened by the knowledge that they were the ones responsible for an entire race.

Then humans gathered around nobles, and suddenly, nobles had language. They had problems that couldn't be solved with raw power, and that gave them reasons to learn problem-solving skills. Humans had uplifted the noble species _how_ far in a single generation? Far enough that the Previous Lord could consider a world where the Lord and Noblesse's sacrifices (of selfhood, of life) were no longer necessary, because the nobles had learned to shape their own futures, preserve their own honor.

Frankenstein hoped they'd have therapists soon: if she was a human, he would have started Seira on learning how to still think rationally while experiencing strong emotions already, since that was an important life skill. However, human minds didn't repress anything without good reason and he wasn't going to second-guess Seira's coping mechanisms when she was keeping herself stable, functional and happy.

Speaking of coping mechanisms, it was tempting to blame himself for the fact that Master was dying, Frankenstein knew. Because if he was the reason Master was dying, then he could simply stop harming his Master and Raizel would live. If he wasn't responsible for Raizel's fate, then what if he had no power to affect Raizel's fate at all? It wasn't the power to harm Raizel he wanted; it was the power to heal him. "Humans caused a crisis for the nobles, but in every crisis is both danger and _opportunity_. As the Lords, it would have been their duty to seize that opportunity to benefit the nobles. Without noble protectors humans would have to find a way to protect ourselves. We," I, "refused to be helpless victims. And if we could gain the power to help ourselves, then we could gain the power to help you." Or so he hoped, that his determination, that human ingenuity could save Raizel

"An enhanced human… Not someone who saw themselves as different from humanity, but someone trying to bring out human potential," a glimpse at what humans might become, "came to Lukedonia as an enemy of the nobles, but then." Frankenstein swallowed. "I found you, Master. And you are worthy. Infinitely worthy. If all the nobles were like you, then…" Then humanity would _deserve_ extinction if they were fool enough to let this species vanish from the earth. "We evolved leaning on you; if we become strong enough that you can now lean on us?" An arch was more stable than a pillar…

Just how much had the Lords been manipulating the history of this world… Or no, not manipulating, because a system that required constant intervention was _not_ a stable system, and certainly not going to last millions of years. The ideal would be to set up a self-sustaining system, one where people would do their own things and look after their own interests, and then sit back and let it come to you.

"He was expecting me," he said numbly. "That's why he was always so damn far ahead. He knew that humans used knowledge and tools, meaning that someone would eventually figure out how to exponentially increase our capabilities." He balked at saying he'd reached so far despite the danger to himself out of love for humanity (how terribly cliché). It was still true that, "It's the Union's utter selfishness and desire to sabotage everyone else that makes it so incompetent." Frankenstein's dream, the one that gave him his motivation was the desire to save humans from being helpless victims. To _help_ people, no matter that they were ordinary or 'inferior.' And so, even though he'd thought nobles weren't… people he liked, when they were still people?

Raizel shook his head. "You were more than he could have hoped for."

Frankenstein's eyes narrowed. "'Take care of my little Raizel for me,'" he paraphrased, though not by much. "When he wanted to make you the next Lord. If humans can be good for nobles, he would have wanted one of us for whoever was stuck with his job. Preferably as early as possible, to advise them on humanity, and help make preparations for formal recontact with humanity…"

His noble sighed, so yes, Frankenstein was right, and if the Father of Human Enhancement hadn't ended up in Raizel's home on his own, the Previous Lord would have made it happen. Was Raizel really the only reason the princess was ordered to visit the Noblesse's manor so often? "I wished that Lord had someone who would give him reason to live for himself instead of the nobles. I should have been hopeful when you went to see him, instead of worried. You both were very wise," Master said, glancing at Frankenstein to see his reaction. Raizel knew little but a window: what did he have to speak with Frankenstein about?

"You thought I'd leave you for that, that…" That aaargh! Wait a minute. "He _wanted_ to annoy me," Frankenstein realized. "So I would want to surpass him instead of becoming intimidated by him. If I realized how little he valued his immortal life it would have _annoyed_ me." That was why he would have tried to do something about it, not to help a noble.

"Yes," Raizel said, perhaps a little relieved, "but mostly the Previous Lord was simply a very difficult person." Master paused, realizing that, "He also was one of the type that does not listen." He sighed fondly into his tea.

"Smarter than everyone around him, and he knew it too," Frankenstein agreed quickly, glad he could reassure Raizel that no, he certainly wouldn't prefer to be contracted to the Previous Lord, even if he could have used the Previous Lord's powers without burning up his soul. "Always thinking he knew best, trying to arrange everyone's lives…" Folding his arms, he shook his head. "I don't know how you put up with someone that irritating for so long. I'm glad you didn't end up going to live with him: I can't imagine my poor Master forced to live with someone like that. I'm sure he spent centuries setting up elaborate plans for what you'd do there, all calculated to make you change your mind about being the Noblesse and live a normal life instead."

What? Why was Raizel looking increasingly bothered? Did he think that _Frankenstein_ was worried that Master thought the Previous Lord would have taken better care of Raizel? Well, he wouldn't have let Muzaka hang around so much, but Frankenstein hadn't wanted to separate Master from his only friend! "I know that you wouldn't be happy with someone trying to manipulate you for your own good, even if it was to make you happy and save your life. Treating you as though you didn't know your own mind and weren't competent to make your own decisions? You wouldn't have anything to do with that type of person if you weren't obligated to put up with him because of the positions you were in."

He shut up when Master put down his teacup and stood, coming over to pat him on the shoulder. "Do not worry, Frankenstein," Master told him seriously. "I like the difficult type, and I do not care you are the type that does not listen when I say that I do not wish to sleep in the coffin. It is an honor that you wish to be at my side, not something I must put up with."

Wait.

What?

Frankenstein replayed the last few sentences of that conversation in his mind. "Ah… Ha," he laughed awkwardly as Master's concerned eyes searched his. "Ahem." Subject change, subject change…

He heard the hum of panels retracting behind him. A hiss of depressurizing steam filled the air as Master's cell phone went off.

Frankenstein suppressed a sigh of relief as the scent pulled Master towards the fresh cookies.

Saved by the snacktime alarm.

* * *

 _I spent like a day trying to prune these A/Ns, but I give up. Some people have said they like my ANs, so yeah, hope you like -_

 _Then there's Frankenstein feeling compelled to rebel against absolutely everything vs. the Previous Lord up and deciding to wreck the system… On the other hand, Raizel has no idea why Frankenstein puts up with him and how he screwed everything up and his selfish insistence on dying as though that can make up for it. Even though Frankenstein is really beyond difficult Raizel still thinks he just got lucky and doesn't deserve Frankenstein._

 _Yep, humans are the least violent mammals – humans attack humans a lot less often than dogs attack dogs, etc. A lot of people go 'but wars!' to this, but sadly we're not the only mammal that does wars. The werewolves' justification that 'humans attack other humans so it's okay for us to attack them' is pure bullshit and also projecting, because werewolves attacked other werewolves_ constantly. _Canonically this is why Muzaka couldn't have any werewolf friends, only nobles and humans, because a werewolf could_ not _be trusted not to attack him the instant his back was turned. After revealing that yeah, she too has been deceiving Muzaka for centuries if not millennia, Garda wonders why Muzaka likes the species that isn't constantly backstabbing him more than he likes werewolves. Gee, wonder why?_

 _Which suggests an AU where Frankenstein was living in one of the regions taken over and oppressed by the werewolves instead of a region with a vampire plague…_

 _Unlike werewolves, nobles don't seem to have chronic backstabbing disorder when Lagus Tradio isn't involved, but before the Previous Lord did his thing,_ nobles normally didn't help each other _. Nobles would help kids and humans, yes, but an adult noble who needed help was SOL. There is a very big difference between empathy and compassion (eg. autistic people are often low on empathy, very high on compassion – they don't mirror your emotions, but if you're hurt they care a lot that you're hurt) and it seems pretty clear that compassion is a learned thing for nobles, not an inherent trait. A lot of nobles helping early humans may have been pure empathy – 'your pain is causing me to feel pain, so stop being in pain goddammit it's annoying me' instead of 'a person is in pain, that is terrible, how do I help?'_

… _And that would explain why a lot of nobles went 'I didn't do it for you' to humans going 'You're such a wonderful nice person let me thank you!' because they didn't do it because the humans were suffering, they did it to ease their_ own _pain._

 _However, when they were nice to humans the humans were happy, which would have made the nobles happy. Since Good Feels Good? The co-evolution of humans and nobles didn't just make nobles smarter as our upgraded intelligence rubbed off on them, it made them better people as we evolved to help each other out more._

 _The Noblesse had to worry about whether or not nobles were selfish, and humans made nobles more compassionate. The Lords had to worry about the long-term good of the nobles, and what's the one thing every species can use? Less stupid. I'd say it's pretty clear that the clan leaders who thought the Noblesse and Lords liked humans better than nobles were a hundred percent right. We are the best thing ever._

 _However, 'there are always criminals' – and humans may be the nicest sapient species on the planet but we're also the deadliest, since we might start shit much less often than everybody else but once shit was started, our fragility meant we couldn't afford to fuck around (see the end of Frankenstein vs. Gradeus). The Previous Lord basically admitted that once humans no longer needed to be protected (Just As Planned), the_ nobles _are the ones who are going to need help (while the werewolves may be SOL, having annoyed both him and humanity too many times)._

 _Humans wiping out nobles isn't likely to happy – they're too shiny and as truly single parents letting the gene pool get too small is a non-issue – but big cats are also shiny things that can kill us and I'm eyeing the illegal pet trade – not to mention that the human slave trade still exists. 'I want one' is a pretty common reaction to Raizel, and the nobles are already losing people to Union and werewolf kidnappers. Big cats are in danger of extinction in the wild because they need big ranges and kill our herd animals, while nobles require less upkeep than houseplants._


	22. Learning Experiences

Tao was flying the helicopter, Rai's coffin (seriously, an actual coffin – at first it was creepy vampire stuff and then it was actually scary because _his friend was in a coffin and might have never woken up_ ) was in the cargo space along with their luggage and Shinwoo was sitting in the cabin with Seira, Rai and the Chairman.

He probably should have been more worried about that last one. Shinwoo knew the Chairman could see _right_ through him. It was actually really nice: he had his friends, but having an adult that got him was different somehow.

Shinwoo knew that he should definitely feel bad about the fact he was a regular at the Chairman's office. When he'd taken Rai there, the Chairman said something like, 'Who did you beat up this time?' and it was a relief to be able to go, 'I'm just dropping this guy off; it's totally not me for once!' and run to class.

If he'd stuck around, maybe he could have seen Rai and the Chairman meet up after all that time… or maybe they both would have had to act like they were strangers so he didn't guess that anything was up. He would have felt really bad about ruining their reunion by being a third wheel.

About as bad as he felt about making all those messes. Oh, right. Shinwoo gulped and smiled. "Uh, Chairman?"

"Yes, Shinwoo?" the Chairman asked, looking up from the files he was reading through.

He clasped his hands in front of him and bowed his head. "I'm sorry about trashing the place when we came over!"

The Chairman smiled at him, still wearing his reading glasses. They'd driven to the helicopter pad as soon as everyone but Shinwoo got back from school – it was nice of Rai to insist on stopping to get Shinwoo some snacks on the way. "A few crumbs doesn't qualify as trashing the place. Don't worry about it, Shinwoo. You're a growing boy who works out for hours every day. Of course you're hungry when you get out of class."

"Yeah, but I didn't have to make a mess," Shinwoo said, frowning, because that wasn't the point.

"It's normal for children to make messes when they hang out. It's not as though you knew it bothered me… Ah." The Chairman looked sympathetic. "That's what's bothering you."

Shinwoo nodded, because that was it. "You've been really great about everything," all the trouble he got into, "and you were letting us hang out at your place, and I was doing something that bothered you the way getting teased bothers Yuna, and _I didn't even know_."

"Because I didn't tell you," the Chairman reminded him.

What did that have to do with anything? It didn't matter if the person teasing Yuna was doing it to hurt her or just to joke around: after when they were kids her nerves were scraped raw enough that it hurt, every time. "Doesn't mean it didn't bug you. You've always understood and…" Aargh. "I didn't even pay enough attention to notice I was doing something that bugged you. I owe you a lot, and that's how I pay you back for everything?"

The Chairman removed his glasses and folded them as he let out a small laugh. "Shinwoo, I don't teach so my students will owe me. Looking after children is its own reward. I'm old enough that I'm perfectly capable of being responsible for my own personal comfort. Yes, seeing messes does bother me, but I could have just left the room until Regis cleaned everything up. I stayed because the mess you made was a small price to pay to see Master so happy…" He winced.

"It's okay," Shinwoo reassured him. "Seira told me about you guys and your contract, even though ours is really different." True, except she'd told him about it _before_ they contracted, instead of after. He hoped he didn't give it away by revealing he knew a lot more than Seira could have told him this morning. Distraction… Right, he was wondering, "Did you know King Arthur?"

"I'm not _quite_ that old." The Chairman smiled. "But yes, I was knighted for services to the realm. Just a different realm, and I was hunting vampires instead of dragons."

Folding his arms, Shinwoo nodded to himself. Knew it. "Everybody knew Rai was foreign nobility, but if he almost got adopted as the Lord's brother he's the next thing to a prince. Of course he'd have knights."

Tao leaned around the pilot's seat, grinning. "I know, right?"

Shinwoo nodded and Tao flashed him a thumbs up before going back to the non-standard instrument panel. Then Tao turned around again. "You should call yourself Seira's Knight!"

"Maybe." Shinwoo grinned. Tao was a lot of fun, no wonder he and Ikhan hit it off. "Fighting for people is…" he rubbed the back of his head. "It's really hard not to," he confessed, blushing.

The Chairman smiled: yes, he knew. "As long as you keep it under control and channel it appropriately. You _are_ going to have to work on controlling your temper and learning some diplomacy," he warned him. "Miss Seira will likely remain Lukedonia's ambassador." He looked at Seira, who nodded. "No humans and very few nobles remember what it was like when our two species lived together, and as the first example of a normal true contract, the world will be watching you."

Ouch. He didn't want to even think about that, so it was probably a good thing he had other stuff to worry about right now. "So what else are we going to work on?" Shinwoo wondered.

The Chairman's eyes went to Shinwoo's wrist, and Shinwoo pulled back his shirtsleeve a little to show that he was still wearing the bracelet. "First, a basic assessment of your strength to be sure you won't hurt yourself. Then making sure that Death Scythe won't cause any difficulties, and after that we'll work on refining your deportment until you've learned enough to return to my school."

"Deportment?" What was that?

"You have enhanced strength – no, technically you don't," the Chairman corrected himself. "This is a natural phenomenon, not a product of enhancement, but it's effectively the same thing. You're going to have to learn to think before you move and control your movements not just in a fight, but in everyday things like opening doors. Otherwise, you'll break things."

Yeah, if Seira could finger-flick a hole in a frying pan, but more importantly, "People," Shinwoo said, wincing.

Yes, the Chairman didn't say. He looked just was worried about it as Shinwoo before he smiled. "On a happier note: learning to think through your actions before, for example, ripping open a bag of chips will help you avoid spraying crumbs everywhere."

Meaning after this he'd have _absolutely no excuse_ for doing it again in the Chairman's house after this. "Right," Shinwoo said, determined. "Are you going to be training me?"

The Chairman nodded. "In deportment, yes. The sooner you learn how to conceal you enhanced strength, the sooner you can start attending class again. I've had my physical strength change quite abruptly several times in my life, so I know a few tricks for adjusting to different levels."

"What about fighting?" Shinwoo asked, leaning forward eagerly. "Are you going to teach me how to fight?" Because that would be awesome! He hadn't gotten to see the Chairman fight before, and that sucked because according to Seira he was _badass_.

A rare flicker of alarm from Seira made him turn to see her eyes were slightly wide.

Motion made him look up and to the left to see Tao waving frantically with a 'Nope!' expression on his face.

"No," said the Chairman.

Shinwoo's face fell. "Huh? Come on, can't we just spar?"

"I don't spar," the Chairman said, utterly serious. "All my training is combat training, and in combat training, just like in combat, people can die. Right now, I don't even know how physically resilient you are. If Tao and the others were unenhanced humans, they would have died a second into our first training session. I know martial arts, I've observed and dissected several styles in order to derive useful principles, but I am not a martial artist." He frowned, tapping his glasses on a knee. "Honestly, your martial arts training is going to be a problem."

Shinwoo's face fell. After he'd worked so hard… "What do you mean?"

"I mean that a great deal of your training has revolved around subduing opponents without killing them, both because a death at a tournament is a tragedy and because with your training, you can _afford_ to fight to subdue. For years, if you've known that a certain strike will kill your opponent, then you've avoided using that strike."

Shinwoo nodded and the Chairman continued, "My 'style,' such as it is, is designed to fight beings much stronger than I am, with inhuman resilience and healing or regeneration abilities. I need to go for the kill, and I absolutely cannot afford to get in the habit of _avoiding_ killing blows. Especially when I need to prepare Miss Seira, Tao and the others to fight enemies who aren't fighting to 'win,' but fighting to _kill them_. If you intend to fight alongside Miss Seira, then you're going to have to be taught to go for the kill… And that means you will never be able to participate in a martial arts tournament again."

Shinwoo sucked in a breath, but, "I already figured that was going to happen anyway." Between enhanced strength and the Union. It wouldn't be fair, either, if he was stronger than them and could take hits better. That was going to suck, but if he could spar with Seira and his friends? It wasn't like he'd really expected he could make a living with martial arts.

"Not necessarily," the Chairman told him. "I'm not just planning to teach you how to handle your new strength, but how to automatically gauge your strength and compensate for it. That means that if your powers are sealed, you should still be able to compete well enough to get those scholarships. But if I'm supervising your combat training, you're going to have to tell Ikhan not to do quite a few of the things he's tried doing to get you out of bed, because otherwise you might mistake him for an attacker."

Because otherwise Ikhan would end up dead, Shinwoo thought, face paling. No, because otherwise a half-asleep _Shinwoo_ could kill his best friend. "And sealing the power from the contract's not going to help that," he knew, because he was a martial artist. He didn't need enhanced strength to kill somebody.

The Chairman nodded. "Memory is a very large part of what makes us who we are – or at least I hope so, given how often I've tampered with my genes – and I didn't seal your memories lightly. Especially not at your age. I sealed them because…" He looked at Rai – no, past Rai to the back of Tao's seat. "It's my duty to prepare my students for the struggles you will face, and the Union has been consolidating its power for a long time. I've done everything I can to preserve your ability to live an ordinary life, but I would be remiss in my duties if Ye Ran's curriculum _wasn't_ designed to help all of you in the event of a Union takeover."

Seira's eyebrows rose.

"Huh?" Shinwoo asked on her behalf, since she was too polite to imply that she doubted her teacher. "If the Union took over, there's no way we'd just take it lying down."

"Yes." The Chairman smiled approvingly. "But I think you're aware that in order to resist, you must first survive."

"And we're unenhanced humans, but so were you once." Shinwoo started to grin.

That earned him another smile. "A great deal of the Union's power lies in its secrecy. Knowledge is power: in order to fight the Union, first one must know it exists. Once it's known that something is possible, it's much easier to replicate it than it was to invent it from scratch." The smile vanished. "But the first and most significant challenge would be keeping people alive. The Union wouldn't care about infrastructure, and thanks to ordinary human criminal greed, the world is now a few months of uninterrupted shipments away from most of the planet not having anywhere near enough seeds to plant to grow food."

Shinwoo nodded, wincing.

"The Union will fall apart quickly," the Chairman assured him. "It was designed to be incapable of surviving over the long term, because that way when the nobles and werewolves pulled out, the enhanced humans would be left with an organizational structure simply incapable of mounting an organized resistance to either of those races. They neutered the Union thinking they were neutering humanity; they dismissed us and Lukedonia to focus on each other, and that will be their downfall."

"I get what you're saying," Tao said, leaning around his chair to look at the Chairman, "but the Union's been around five hundred years, and that's just when it officially started. You were fighting basically-the-Union way before then, Boss!"

"Yes, and I exterminated it easily," the Chairman agreed. "The problem was that the nobles and werewolves kept restarting it, and since then they've kept propping it up. Master, to a noble like Lagus Tradio, about how long is five hundred years in human terms?"

Rai looked thoughtful. "Perhaps two years; the clan leaders are older than the Union."

"You see?" the Chairman told Seira and Shinwoo. "They needed enhanced human test subjects, but they certainly weren't going to allow human enhancement to be anything more than a temporary measure. None of the human Union 'Elders' were supposed to live long enough to become a threat. If we remove the traitor clan leaders and do something about the werewolves, the Union will fall apart quickly in noble terms… the problem is the collateral damage."

Cities blown up. Countries starved.

"Sir Gejutel told us what Ragnarok meant to humans," Seira said. "When the Gods fight, the world ends." Face set, she looked at the Chairman.

"…What?" he asked her, blinking.

"You have known this was coming, and humans are those you wish to protect."

He looked happy she'd figured that out: Yeah, Seira was smart. "Ye Ran isn't the only school I've established over the centuries, and I've been creating seed banks and taking as many of the obvious precautions as I can without drawing attention."

Red eyes didn't look away from blue.

The Chairman coughed, looking out the window at the ocean. "There are things I would like to do, in an ideal world where I could get consent and run clinical trials, but if we lived in an ideal world no human would have died of old age except by choice for centuries. Not to mention that Master withdrew my permission to conduct experiments…"

Seira sighed, too polite to call, "Bullshit," said Shinwoo.

The Chairman glanced worriedly at Rai, who sat with his legs crossed, looking out the window of the plane.

"What truly worries me is that you are smiling," Seira said with a sigh.

Yeah, Shinwoo could see it there. Not just the relief that Rai was acting like this was none of his business, but a tiny little smirk.

"We were talking about Shinwoo," the Chairman remembered with relief. "Shinwoo, now that you are keeping your memories, it is my responsibility to teach you how to survive the Union coming after you." He met Shinwoo's eyes, and he could see the old grief there. "Now that you remember, I can't let you live that ordinary life, because you would die. I'm going to have to teach you to live in fear, always looking over your shoulder. I'm going to have to teach you how to kill, and kill again, as many times as it takes." He looked tired, looking from Shinwoo, to Seira and Tao. "I'm sorry," he said. "You shouldn't have to fight this war, when it's my responsibility."

"My duty," Rai said, frowning at him.

Frankenstein nodded in acknowledgement. "I will do my best to be sure you have the strength to protect those important to you, and the ordinary life we have here."

…Shinwoo didn't really think their life qualified as ordinary, when the Chairman was rich and they had foreign nobility living with them and Tao was Tao, but he figured it wasn't the time to point that out.

* * *

In one of the clearings a safe distance away from the lab, Frankenstein stood next to a broken board and a pipe tied into the knot of someone who knew nothing about knots but did have a lot of practice tying the laces of exercise shoes for proper ankle support. "Let me see that again," Frankenstein said, forcibly restraining his irritation while he kept a smile on his face.

Shinwoo pulled on the tab. The third soda Rai brought for the trip popped open as Tao stared, moving to look at Shinwoo's hands from different angles.

"It looks as though I was wrong," Frankenstein said, wanting to facepalm. "There _are_ significant differences between this and enhanced strength. The strength of your body is exactly the same: the additional force is _telekinesis_. Of course you're not having trouble applying the exact amount of force you want to apply: it's your _want_ that applies the force. So this is why none of the illegal contractors gave themselves away by accidentally breaking things." _Damn_ , if he'd figured out this ability before enhancing his strength, he could have saved himself _so much trouble,_ because he was fairly sure that using telekinesis to control how much of the force their bodies exerted acted on the object was how Gejutel and Ragar avoided crushing the handles of those teacups the first time Frankenstein tried to arrange for Rai to have a social life by swallowing his pride and actually inviting the two semi-tolerable nobles to stay and drink his tea and eat his food.

The Landegre weren't supposed to be telekinetic, but what did nobles know about their powers?

 _Suspiciously_ little, especially when the most powerful members of the species got their memories tampered with on a regular basis. With power came the temptation to abuse it: if one of the previous Noblesse hadn't realized that the clan leaders could be made to forget just how powerful they were along with the contents of certain conversations, Frankenstein would make a hat and eat it.

Now, the current generation had been forced to more or less teach themselves how to use their abilities, without the wisdom or limitations of the previous generation, with no Noblesse to take their shiny new toys away.

Frankenstein could picture the Previous Lord watching, just _waiting_ for Tradio and the others to attack Lukedonia. His soul was in Ragnarok, so he certainly had the best seat in the house. Probably had popcorn, too.

Not that Frankenstein could really begrudge him that: he had centuries of cursing his inability to kill those clan leaders, but the Previous Lord had _millennia_. Where Frankenstein was limited by his power, the Previous Lord had to stay within the limits of the law. Or else, who would?

He doubted that it was a coincidence that the Landegre-Loyard massacre occurred only a few years after the Tunguska Event. It was a _message_. 'Train, and we'll slaughter your people.' Roctis hadn't kept records of his meetings with the Elders and other clan leaders, but Ignes had spied on her father, and the traitor nobles knew damn well that if Raskreia gained control over her powers and there was a 'real' Lord of Lukedonia again, the window of opportunity left by her father's eternal sleep would close. They'd taken Lukedonia's people hostage against their Lord, to force Raskreia to stay weak.

Master would have known that part of their plan. Would have seen that in their minds, long ago. No wonder he'd played along with the plan he must have seen in Gejutel's mind. Raizel had presented Raskreia with an enemy she had to fight, _wanted_ to fight, so she'd have the chance to learn how her own powers worked.

Thanks to Master, when the Union attacked Lukedonia Raskreia wouldn't be as weak as they thought. None of the clan leaders would be, and being underestimated by your enemy right up to the moment you killed them was one of the best tactical advantages there were.

The main reason Frankenstein didn't use his psychokinetic abilities was that many of his enemies were idiots and might not realize he had them if he didn't use them. Playing the weak human was a lie they _wanted_ to believe, when it fit their prejudices, and keeping powers in reserve both made him appear weaker and meant he had more traps available to spring the moment they let their guard down.

But _damnation,_ he'd been hemorrhaging lab equipment for _months_ after the first time he enhanced his strength.

Shinwoo was grinning. "The bond is a lot easier than I thought it was going to be, and it's this easy to control my strength too?"

Frankenstein frowned, knowing he needed to find a way to remind the boy that _he could not take this lightly_ , when he noticed the word _control_. Shinwoo wasn't having trouble controlling his link to Seira or the powers he drew from it? "Of course, this is why first generation contractors don't become mutants!" No wonder Frankenstein hadn't recognized it, when this was the first time it was working in his favor instead of the criminals'.

Tao, Miss Seira and Shinwoo looked at him.

"Mutants are created when a contractor drinks someone's blood, and _they_ drink someone's blood, until the new contractors are several people removed from the noble," he explained to Shinwoo. "Contractors don't just receive raw energy from nobles, but also copies of their abilities. The more times those abilities are copied, the more errors creep in, until eventually a mutant can't control the noble energy within them, and it changes them."

"So they're called mutants because their powers mutated when they were copied, like DNA?" Shinwoo asked. "Seems kind of weird for people centuries ago to name them that. Were you the one who decided what to call them?"

Frankenstein shook his head. "It's a translation of the Lukedonian term. Since I had access to nobles," Central Order Knights, "I had them give me translations of several of the key terms into multiple languages. It means 'the changing ones.' Present tense. The defining trait of a mutant is that their body and blood are constantly changing, so whoever took their blood will lose control over them and getting a second blood sample won't let them get control back, because that one will also quickly become outdated." He looked at Tao. "The Union term 'modified human' is a Freudian slip on someone's part: it means a human that _was_ changed, in the past, and now is limited to being what the Union wanted them to be. A modified human is by definition _less_ than what they were before. I prefer enhanced human: a human whose potential has been brought out, someone who has been made _more_ themselves, not less."

When Tao nodded, Frankenstein went back to what he'd been saying. "But the important thing, from the traitors' perspective, is that modified humans have stopped changing. That's why the Union wasn't interested in learning how to modify someone twice, much less slowly enhance them like I've done with you. The nobles don't want humans they can't control, and the werewolves don't want humans that have one of their main abilities."

"That's why you're stabilizing and enhancing us gradually instead of doing steps at a time so we're the same for awhile before getting changed again!" Tao grinned. "It's not just the samples they got from us back when we were in the Union, but even if they scraped some of M-21's blood up off a battlefield… No, right, he's a werewolf, so it won't work anyway. That leaves me and Takeo." Tao punched his palm. "Aha, so _that's_ why you want Takeo to learn about mind control!"

Frankenstein smiled. "Very good, Tao." Even before Master had the idea of taking Ignes' inheritance and using it as reparations for one of her victims' victims, Dark Spear would have protected Tao's mind from everything but themselves. That meant he'd needed to come up with something for Takeo.

Tao for tactics, Seira for cooking, Regis for the cleaning, Rael to run the school; before very long, there would be people who could ensure that Master's ordinary life continued.

There was a sound from Master's pocket: it wasn't one of the alarm tones Frankenstein had heard Master use before, for things like snacktime and when he should head home while hanging out with Shinwoo and his other friends so he was back in time for dinner.

Master took the phone out of his pocket and showed it to Seira.

"Thank you," she said, bowing slightly. Turning to the rest of them, she said, "Tao, it is time for us to begin preparations."

"Right," Tao said eagerly, although a moment later he glanced at Shinwoo and Frankenstein. Even with the promise of a soul weapon, his keen sense of responsibility still meant he wanted to watch over this training.

Frankenstein would adjourn for now, but "I'd like to check a couple more things before removing Cetus from Dark Spear." If he was wrong about Shinwoo's level of control, what else was he wrong about? He wouldn't be in any condition to do more testing for several hours after forcing Dark Spear to release some of their prey. He'd like to get a good enough idea of Shinwoo's current status so he could spend that time figuring out a new approach to Shinwoo's training.

Master nodded and turned towards the lab. Seira and Tao looked at Shinwoo and Frankenstein, but then followed Master, taking up positions slightly behind him and to either side, flanking him protectively.

It made him smile to himself for a moment "Next, I'd like to see how much strength you can call on in a fight," Frankenstein said, turning back to Shinwoo.

"Yes!" The boy pumped his fist. "What do I do?"

Frankenstein held out his right hand to his side and conjured up a black force field around it. He wasn't going to tempt fate by telling Shinwoo to attack him with all his might: he couldn't use anything as fragile as a mountain to test Shinwoo's strength, but he knew the power of his force fields and could regrow a hand. "Punch this as hard as you can _when I say now,_ " he added quickly, seeing Shinwoo start to pull back his fist. "Coming in contact with it will hurt, so see if you can muster any energies to protect your hand. Get in position when you think you're ready to give it a try."

Shinwoo nodded and stepped over, pulling back his fist, blue eyes focused on the target.

"Now," Frankenstein said after a moment.

Hmm, not bad speed. Frankenstein felt the impact on his shield – it was made of his energy, and just how much power it used could give him a rough idea of the amount of force applied. But that energy flare… "Give me your hand," he said as soon as his student drew it back; he'd heard the crackle when it came in range.

Good, he thought, turning over Shinwoo's hand. No visible drawn blood, no healing energies present to mark a just-closed wound. Frankenstein had modified his aura to suppress noble power so he could make chains capable of holding mutants and contractors even before he found Dark Spear, so that flare was probably just an automatic reaction to being attacked by a vampi... _contractor's_ energies instead of Dark Spear getting out.

"Huh," Shinwoo said, shaking out his hand automatically when Frankenstein released it. "I did this before. Not this powerful, but I know I used this to beat some guys up before the contract."

Wasn't that interesting. "Do you remember who, or when?"

Shinwoo shrugged helplessly. "Just some punks; they blur together after awhile."

Hmm… "When we get home, see if you can figure out where and when it happened." Putting him in those circumstances again might refresh Shinwoo's memory.

"Say," Shinwoo wondered, kicking a tree stump – probably felled by M-21, judging from the slashes. "Can I ask you something?"

"Of course. You can always ask me whatever you want to know. I can't always promise a complete answer, but I'll tell you as much as I can." Hopefully Shinwoo would listen to him when he said this, unlike most of the rest of the household

He nodded, understanding. If the enemy knew things, that could put Shinwoo's friends in danger. "What's up with you and Rai?"

Frankenstein paused. Shinwoo had claimed he wasn't bothered by Frankenstein addressing Raizel as Master, but it would be normal for someone raised in the modern day to have concerns. Or was it something else? "Can you be more specific?"

Shinwoo winced, swallowed, and made a face like someone about to bite a bullet. "How sick is he?"

Oh. Damn. Frankenstein closed his eyes for a moment. "Why do you ask?" What exactly did he sense? Had he noticed some sign that Master's condition was worse than it appeared?

Shinwoo's eyebrows went up. "Because he's my friend and I'm worried about him?" Of course he wanted to know.

"There are a lot of unknowns," he said, stalling for time. "I haven't been allowed to get readings on the injury, because he doesn't want me to worry. I share his ability to burn life for power because of our contract, but Rai would never forgive himself if I severely damaged my soul so that I could watch it bleed for his sake." The charms were risky, but they were something he'd done to himself with his own power, or Dark Spear's at least, of his own will, so Master didn't feel as responsible. "There is some good news: the charm on your wrist is something I came up with so he wouldn't keep tearing open the wound in order to protect us." When Shinwoo started to remove the charm, Frankenstein held up a hand. "Don't worry, there are more, so loaning that one to you isn't a problem. Even better, I'm fairly sure that Raizel is surprised that he's as healthy as he is."

"So he should be even sicker? Seira said he was bleeding from – " Shinwoo couldn't say it, just waved at his face. He knew a little about organ damage.

"If Rai is healthier than he should be, based on the experiences of the previous Noblesse, then there must be a _reason_ he's doing so well. I was feeling his surprise," and gratitude for additional time with them, "before I made the charms. That means I have two different avenues of research to pursue, and if there are two factors that can help his condition, there may be more."

"How much longer has he got? Or is that a stupid question? I mean, nobles are immortal, right?" Shinwoo laughed… until he saw Frankenstein's expression.

" _Most_ nobles are immortal. In a sense, you could say that the Noblesse are mortals like humans, with a limited time on earth." Bodies that wore out, power that was used up. Yet Frankenstein refused to abandon any of them to mortality when it _wasn't necessary_. "Raizel's soul is no longer able to heal itself. He's already pushing his luck: I would not have been surprised if he had died sentencing Urokai and Zarga." That was why he'd taken such a risk with Dark Spear. If he'd fought them conventionally, before long they would have injured him badly enough for Master to sense it: he had to try to take them out first. "I managed to take out Roctis, but the other traitor clan leaders… I have a means of sabotaging Gradeus so he can't gather enough power to break through Master's guard, but Lagus… that clan specializes in poisons, he must know a great deal about how the body and soul can fail. How to _make_ them fail. He's ancient, and he very well may know things I don't about the noble equivalent of biology in general and a Noblesse's or soul weapon's in particular." He shook his head. "I should have made the connection between Grandia, Ragnarok and my work with Dark Spear artifacts."

Belatedly, he realized that none of that would make any sense to Shinwoo, much less reassure him. "He should be fine unless he fights," unless whatever mysterious factor was holding him together _stopped_ , "and he should be fine in a fight as long as he doesn't run out of charms." Or decide not to use them so Frankenstein could have them back. Or have some sort of compatibility issue, or hell, the noble equivalent of _something going down the wrong pipe_. Nobles weren't _used_ to handling foreign energies – trying to convert the charm into power with a failing soul? There was a reason the human liver needed to be as miraculous as it was: the human body routinely juggled poisons and performed metabolic processes with toxic byproducts trying to get energy and the components necessary for a living thing out of other living things. The human body was evolved for this and it still could have serious, even deadly problems; nobles were producers, not consumers, and Frankenstein had seen what happened when a noble had no idea what they were doing. Far too often, they pretended that they did, muddled along well enough on practiced grace and superior resilience, until they'd dug themselves deep enough they couldn't get back out when something went very wrong.

At least Raizel's soul was used to the presence of Frankenstein's soul energies, so he could _hope_ Raizel's mental defenses or equivalent of an immune system wouldn't rouse itself to force out the foreign power, but he had no data.

He had _never_ experimented on innocent people before (gotten blood samples from innocent nobles, yes, but never experimented on them). If Master wasn't already a dead man walking, so it wasn't possible for Frankenstein to make things any worse. If there was any chance that Raizel could survive without treatment, then Frankenstein would have had a difficult time bearing the thought of taking a risk with _Master_.

"Is there anything I can do to help, besides fighting?" Shinwoo almost pleaded. "Experiments and stuff wouldn't bother me." Unlike 'Ajussi' and the others. "Not if it can help Rai?"

"That may help," he said, forcing a smile for his student. "I've never met anyone else with a true contract until now. It might help to take some readings on the transfer of energy between you and Seira, to see if I can improve the current method of augmenting… Rai's energy." Almost slipped up there.

"I know that he means a lot to you. You don't have to act like he doesn't. It doesn't bother me," Shinwoo said, scratching the back of his head.

"You're right: calling him Master is an important symbol of how special he is to me." A title, an honor that no one else would _ever_ receive from him again. "It is important to me, but I know it bothers him. That was actually why I started doing it, I was posing as a servant and, well, it's a long story." He'd called him Master with obviously-fake obedience to drive Urokai up the wall, and _that_ made it almost a pleasure to call a noble 'Master.' The years went by, and it became something of a pet name, a joke between the two of them because Raizel knew very well why Frankenstein did it and hadn't asked him to stop, because Raizel knew that given Frankenstein's disobedient streak, asking him to knock it off would only encourage him.

Before he met Raizel, how long had it been since he had an _in-joke_ with anyone? He was so lonely he could have latched on to a pet or a houseplant, if he was irresponsible enough to make himself responsible for another living thing with the criminals constantly hunting him. Instead?

Master… It was _impossible_ that Frankenstein would ever call a noble Master willingly and mean it, and did that not make it a miracle? That he had found someone impossibly worthy?

Even if Rai had another nickname now, one that didn't imply that he didn't value Frankenstein as an equal, one that didn't place a gulf between them, he wouldn't ask Frankenstein to stop doing something that made him happy.

"We should get back to the evaluation," Frankenstein said, brushing nonexistent dirt off his hands. "Master and Miss Seira will be helping Tao tonight, and we can talk then."

Shinwoo nodded, relieved.

Frankenstein smiled: he understood why M-21 and the others were cautious around not just someone with enough power to get away with abusing them if this was the Union, but a powerful _scientist_ , and he couldn't blame nobles for being nobles, but it was refreshing to have a student who knew who and what he was and didn't hesitate to come to him with their worries and ask him questions.

' _In this place, you smile all the time.'_

Master was right: Frankenstein was happy here. He had an entire school of people to look after, and several wonderful children.

And that worried him. Because Master had to know that if he died now, Frankenstein would not be left alone… Provided Master managed to protect these children, instead of preserving his own life by letting them fight and put themselves in danger.

Not that Frankenstein had any right to talk when he was the one training replacement cooks, and cleaning boys, and a scientist/engineer/doctor, and a school administrator, and simply _company_ , so that Master would not be alone if Frankenstein was the one to die first.

Either way, he needed to find some way for these children to protect themselves, because after the battle with the Twelfth Elder, he and Master had known that they couldn't guarantee their safety.

And now one more child had refused to leave.

It _baffled_ him that the Union, that _anyone_ could think that the lives of people like this were meaningless, it really did. What gave them the idea that they had the right to deprive the world of something so precious? What plans or ideology could be more important than a child's life?

The idea that people could be treated like things of no value was one thing Frankenstein didn't _want_ to understand.

He wanted to _purge it from this world_.

* * *

 _Take a look at what Frankenstein says in episode 391, it's interesting as well as entertaining._

 _Memetic viruses would be a major health concern for beings of mind/soul/self. Criminals are incentivized to spread their ideology/bullshit justifications since if they can make the people around them think that doing something is okay, then the criminals can do it without being punished. The Union uses the 'the weak are worthless' ideology to keep its slaves from banding together and no longer being weak – want to bet M-21's outlived the people in episode 407 who thought they were so superior to him and therefore they were safe from the Union? This absolutely damages their victims' sense of self, and that means they likely wouldn't last long as immortals. The idea that it's okay to abuse/kill [anyone] for [some bullshit reason] is probably the noble equivalent of_ rabies, _only it can hide itself better (criminals are cowards) and therefore has more chances to infect others. Take a look at Lagus Tradio, how sick he is, and think that this is someone Gejutel used to like. There are_ clans _that got near-completely depopulated because of how he spread his sickness to others. That's some black plague-level scary, so yes, it makes sense that_ this _is the threat to the nobles that the Noblesse is supposed to stop. This is why they have the authority to read people's minds, since how else are you supposed to spot a mind-virus? And it's also why they have the ability to put people down like rabid dogs._

 _As was discussed in a recent episode, eternal sleep doesn't really scare nobles since they normally live just absurd amounts of time. Going to eternal sleep a little early, meh. It can be annoying if you had stuff you were doing, but not terrifying, more inconvenient. Mind rape/getting turned into something disgusting and pathetic? That's pure NOPE._

 _The kids at the school are aware that Rai, Seira and Regis are some kind of foreign nobility. The Chairman was also obviously a foreigner, and clearly he has some connection to Rai and the others since he's hosting them, so the obvious guesses were that he's either nobility himself and just didn't tell people (see the 'related to Rael' guess) or some kind of loyal retainer – they're aware that he cares about Rai, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything when he's a very caring person in general._

 _Given how awkward the vampire discussion was before ('munch munch'), Shinwoo does want to make it clear to Rai and the Chairman that he definitely doesn't think his friend would enslave someone! Hence telling them that he gets that Frankenstein calling Rai 'Master' is a fealty thing._


	23. Ghost Stories

They were doing this outside instead of in the lab at the island. Tao didn't know why until he came back from showering to find that Seira had started building a fire, a big one. They couldn't have smoke on the lab ceiling or ashes everywhere. Someone, probably Frankenstein, had brought out tea things, a sleeping bag with a pillow and chairs for everyone. Oh, here came Boss now, carrying the coffin. He must have finished prying the other soul weapon loose from Dark Spear.

"Can I see it?" Tao asked, hovering as Frankenstein set down his burden.

Frankenstein glanced at Rai, who nodded. He carefully lifted up the lid.

The soul weapon that lay there on the padded velvet was, "A whip?" Tao asked, delighted. "It's perfect for me!" Tao would be able to use it like his cables without learning a whole new fighting style!

Rai looked blank for a second, before he seemed to realize that oh yes, types of weapons mattered. He shook his head, clearly regretting that he hadn't considered that. What if he'd given Tao a soul weapon he couldn't use for what he wanted?

"It works out well, doesn't it?" Frankenstein said, smirking down at the dark whip as he leaned the lid against the side of the coffin. "I wish I'd known there would be a bonfire before we left, I would have brought marshmallows."

Seira shook her head elegantly. Right, Tao wasn't supposed to eat.

"The fire can be built back up in the morning after we're done. Perhaps I should have Takeo bring some." Takeo, M-21 and Regis would be joining them at the end of the school week. "You will enjoy s'mores, Master. They're a sweet best made outside." Where there wouldn't be sticky hands and crumbs inside his house. Frankenstein looked back at Seira. "Have you remembered anything else that might be helpful?"

She shook her head, carefully poking the fire with a stick as she looked down at her cellphone. Tao wasn't surprised that a noble had never built a bonfire before and would need to google it. He had mixed feelings about fire. They were pretty, but their missions for the Union… fires meant death and destruction. A lot of it he helped cause.

Still pretty, though. He wanted to crouch down next to it with Seira and feed it twigs… Huh. "It's like nobles," he realized, throwing himself down on one of the blankets and propping his head up on his hands, tilting his head to look at it.

Seira and Raizel blinked at him: he glanced at Boss, who looked curious, waiting for him to go on. "Look around," Tao said, waving at the area beyond the firelight. "It's dark out there. Anything could be out there, it's not safe. And the fire is so shiny!" He grinned. "It's shiny, and pretty and powerful and it's not safe to get too close but you still want to, right? Even if it could burn you alive. It's dangerous but it's _shiny_ and it's even more dangerous to not have a fire, right?" Nobles were scary, like fire was scary, but they were _shiny_ and Tao wanted one.

The students at Ye Ran, all the people who watched the nobles and didn't try to touch (like Tao before he knew that was okay!). Don't stick your hand in the fire, you'll be burned, but it was good to be near one so you'd be warm and safe and they were _shiny_ so you wanted to look at them.

His face fell when he realized that both the nobles were frowning slightly. "No?" he asked.

They both looked at the fire, Seira's frown deepening. Raizel shook his head elegantly. "Fire is part of humanity," the Noblesse told him. "Fire needs to consume other life in order to survive: it is bright and beautiful and fleeting. And noisy," he added after a moment's hesitation. "But noise is part of life." So fire was definitely more like humans.

Miss Seira looked at the fire thoughtfully, then opened the box of tea leaves, measured out enough for a pot and gave them to the fire.

The Noblesse nodded and leaned forward to contribute a sugar cube.

"The humans learned that herbs and mushrooms helped them do this," Seira said. "I do not know what those herbs were, but tea cannot hurt."

"Human traditions passed down several of them," Frankenstein said, intrigued. "But I'd rather not try to reverse-engineer appropriate dosages for an enhanced human." He looked far more interested in the fire than the idea of testing drugs that might enhance psychic abilities and access to noble powers on an enhanced human.

Tao totally got that, because it was cute! They were all gathered around a fire, so if fire was a human, that made it part of the gathering, and guests should be served tea! Not giving the fire tea would be rude and inelegant, especially since the fire was helping them – Seira had built it for the same reason she sent Tao to go shower and wash behind his ears, because the Loyard contractors who did most of these had figured out that washing up and having a big fire helped humans do this safely. Seira obviously had no idea why those things would make a difference, but the humans said they did and humans would know more about what worked for humans than nobles did.

"On that note," Frankenstein said, "is there anything else I should bring you, or should I leave you to it?"

"You aren't staying?" Tao asked, lifting his head up.

Frankenstein and Seira shook their heads. "Master needs to go with you, so I shouldn't be here for the same reason Takeo and M-21 can't be here," Boss explained. "Miss Seira didn't ask you to skip meals lightly: you needed to loosen your ties to the living world."

Food kept people alive. "Is that why the shower, too?" Tao wondered. "And why I needed to wear something I wouldn't normally wear." His fingers plucked at the vest M-21 had dug out of his closet: he hadn't seen M-21 wear anything like this outfit since Tao first came to the house, but in some old surveillance footage he'd studied while trying to figure out what M-21 was going in Korea for Crombel he was dressed kind of like this. Style was important to nobles, but comrades… Comrades and family did more than anything else to keep you alive, didn't they? That was why he couldn't lose the ones he'd found. No matter what.

Seira nodded.

Boss left after bowing to his Master. Since Miss Seira was here helping Tao and Boss' Master, Boss would be responsible for keeping watch over Shinwoo.

That meant it was just the three of them. And the stars up above, the trees in the darkness beyond the fire, and the fire. Tao's fingers itched for a keyboard, but the only cellphone here was Miss Seira's, and she had already put it away – she used to cook with fires back on Lukedonia, so she probably knew more about tending them than Tao did. In Tao's experience, fires just _happened_. He knew how they worked, sure, and had set some for distractions, but most of the fires he'd experienced were a natural consequence of DA-5 happening to people. It was probably just campfires Seira needed to read about: he doubted nobles did much camping.

His eyes went to the fire, and his fingers itched to fiddle with it the way he fiddled with electronics. Fire was what people had before electricity, huh. They even used it to make technology! And power it, too. He should help out Miss Seira, since she was doing this for him and she had the Loyard stuff to do too. Didn't they used to have contractors for this? He should be helping.

She looked at him and shook her head when she saw him scooting closer to the fire.

"But…" he started to protest.

"Helping others is also a reason we remain awake, and we cannot begin until you fall asleep."

Tao looked at the sleeping bag spread out next to the coffin. It looked as tidy as a bed made with military precision.

Would Raizel be sleeping too? Even if according to Boss sleeping at night like humans did wouldn't be long enough to help at all, Tao hoped that _he_ would at least be resting instead of using up more of his life.

"You're sure this isn't going to use up any of _his_ power?" Tao asked again, leaning towards Seira and whispering even though he knew that couldn't make any difference.

Seira shook her head. "I will handle it," she reassured him.

* * *

Curled up in his computer chair, Tao heard the sound of footsteps…

Wait, no, these were arms, not armrests. He opened his eyes and his feet were lowered to the floor: whoever was carrying him had the strength to help him stand up easily, without worrying much about center of balance.

Not Takeo.

Raizel continued walking, ignoring Tao's surprise. Tao hurried after him.

It was dark, and all the stars were red. There wasn't any ground, just space, so what were they walking on? He tapped his foot, hoping the surface he felt wouldn't stop being there because he didn't believe in it or something.

"Is this a dream?" he wondered, hurrying to catch up to Raizel.

The noble turned and put a finger to his lips, looking around them meaningfully.

"Oh, right," Tao whispered. "People are sleeping." He looked around, wondering why they were walking. The whip was right there when Raizel went to sleep, right? But what did he know about mythic journeys to speak to the souls of dead gods?

No, not dead gods. Sleeping gods. There was something about that…

Raizel stopped, and tapped his foot.

There was something arresting about the sound, the same as when Raizel lowered his teacup and everyone went silent because he was about to speak, or a judge hitting the podium with their gavel.

Tao looked around, not sure whose attention Raizel was trying to get. Wait: there was a star up ahead that shone a lot brighter than most of the others. The others were the color of red giants, or red dwarves: blood. This one burned white-hot, except for a red corona.

Raizel reached out towards it, calling the light towards his hand the way he'd trapped the Tenth Elder's blast. His ringed hand pressed against the sphere and light burst out of it, flowing around them.

When Tao opened his eyes they were in darkness again, except for some red lights. Fewer, though. And closer. And some of them were moving. And there as a shape that blocked out the lights behind it, moving along with the moving lights. The shape… like a big fish, swimming around them? There were fish with lights deep underwater, right? They used the light to lure their prey, and this one was more than big enough to munch Tao.

Well. If this had something to do with the soul weapon, that might be a clan leader?

It wasn't exactly surprising that even a not-dead clan leader could eat him. Munch munch!

Not-dead. Huh. There was a word for that: undead? Were soul weapons like ghosts? If Takeo and the others were here Tao would have asked that aloud, but Raizel was in the middle of something and Tao wanted to observe all this.

A noble that looked middle-aged appeared slowly, reluctantly. He stared at them with dead red eyes for a moment before seeming to remember his manners and bowing. "Sir Cadis Etrama di Raizel."

"Roctis Kravei," Raizel greeted the noble.

"I… do not sense Ignes' soul." The noble closed his eyes, hair lightening to grey as Tao watched.

"The soul weapons are born of the will to protect. Ignes did not wish to protect you."

This was a Union Elder, one of the people who betrayed Raizel, and there was still regret in _his_ eyes, Tao saw. _He_ was just too nice.

"Yes," the noble said bleakly, hanging his head. "She never cared that her experiments also put me in danger if she was discovered. I knew what she was, but… I had to protect my child."

"I do not know the feelings of a parent," Raizel said. "However… I do know that protecting your child is not the only duty of a parent."

"…You are right," Roctis admitted. "I had forgotten the obvious. Without honor, without respect for the sanctity of her will and the wills of others, Ignes' madness was inevitable. I knew… I feared that I could not guide her to honor, and that meant all I could do was keep her alive as long as possible." He bowed his head. "I gave up everything for her," he said, sounding tired. "My honor, the clan that _trusted_ me…"

"How could you teach her to value honor when you discarded your own? How could you protect her when you turned away from your duty to protect?"

"…I submit to your judgment, Sir Cadis Etrama di Raizel, the True Noblesse."

"Your sin will be paid with your soul. Ignes Kravei is not the only child you have failed." Raizel turned to face Tao, gesturing for him to come forward. "This child is Tao. His name and selfhood were stolen from him to turn him into a servant of your Bonded."

Tao blinked, but oh right, the Twelfth Elder.

"You are responsible for his suffering." Raizel was frowning, as though making Tao sad was some horrible crime.

The noble opened his mouth, then sighed, tired. "Yes."

"You must protect this child so he may find happiness."

"I do not deserve this chance." The noble shook his head, but did his hair look a little darker? Hard to tell in this weird light.

Wait, wait, wait, _what_. A Union Elder was caring about Tao's happiness now? Tao rubbed at an ear, staring. He knew that the world was different around Raizel and Boss, but whoa.

Raizel gave Roctis a stern look. "You do not have the right to refuse." Obviously not. "This is the payment for your sin. Your awareness that you are unworthy… that too is part of the price extracted from your soul." He looked up. "Souls of Cetus: will you share Roctis' fate?"

" _He has regained his will to protect. We shall take part in it."_

Roctis raised his head. "Regained?" he asked, but answered his own question. "I knew that Ignes would die if she continued down this path, and I did not try to find a way to save her. She was my daughter, and yet part of me… Part of me thought it was for the best, that she should die. What kind of parent thinks that about their own child? I turned away from those thoughts, and convinced myself that nothing mattered to me but her."

Tao wanted to ask why couldn't he have figured all this stuff out _before_ Boss had to go kill him? Before he betrayed Raizel and took him away from Boss, before Tao was experimented on? And Tao was one of the… Tao was the luckiest one, except for Takeo! He opened his mouth to demand an answer, but then he thought about Crombel. All the people in the Union who were Elders, who served it, and didn't even have that much of a reason.

Tao had helped kill all those people on DA-5's missions just to save his own skin. He couldn't really point fingers here.

Raizel ignored Roctis, still addressing the red lights around them and the big fish that swum through the probably-not-air around them. "Will you honor Tao's will to protect, and dwell within his soul with care?"

This time, the voice that spoke wasn't all blended together, but came from the lights all around them. " _It is not suitable for a Noblesse to ask such things. If we are granted permission to protest your decisions, then we do not deserve this insult. Asking if we still honor the will to protect, and implying we might not take care not to harm a child?"_

That sounded like grumpy noble-speak for, 'It is a _free child,_ of course I want it, why the hell are you asking? Seriously, why is a Noblesse asking, you should be ordering us, I'm going back to sleep, wake me up when the universe starts making sense again, meaning never.'

Okay, he was embellishing the impression he got a lot but Tao smiled: he _liked_ grumpy nobles! One of the souls in Cetus might be a Union Elder, but if he got one like Regis' Grandpa out of it too, that wasn't bad. Was this one like Roctis' Grandma? It'd be easy to be a _way_ better descendant than a Union Elder and Ignes! He could totally be the favorite!

The second voice to speak was more subdued, and came from the direction of the fish instead of all the lights. _"This child's soul is already wounded. I failed to give Roctis the strength to live with honor. I fear I will bring misfortune upon this child as well."_

Surprise, and Tao saw Roctis staring across at the fish with shock.

It could have been a trick of the weird light, but maybe Raizel smiled just a little, there and gone.

* * *

Tao held the fishbowl – it was a ball of light again, but to him it was always going to be the fishbowl – as he followed after Raizel. "Not that I'm complaining, but is there another reason I'm getting a soul weapon?"

Raizel looked at him, sighed, caved. "I am told that nobles are ancient as humans count time, but when Frankenstein came to Lukedonia, the youngest nobles were of the fourth generation. Children are loved." The 'but' was unspoken, but all the clearer in worried red eyes for the silence, as though Raizel was afraid to even talk about the possibility of failing a kid, it was so scary.

"So nobles just haven't been around long enough to figure out parenting skills?" Tao asked, then winced. "Are humans the only species with parenting skills?" With trial and error, you'd need to wait for the kids to grow up to see how they turned out, before you could try to learn from it and do another iteration. If you thought about it, the nobles hadn't had time to learn what messed kids up so they could not do that.

The Noblesse nodded sadly. "Muzaka loved Ashleen as the Previous Lord loved Raskreia, but…" he gave that little sigh, the one that was 'This is absolutely outrageous and terrible but I have to watch this train wreck because Frankenstein is my Bonded and so I'm responsible for this stuff he pulls.' Except he was talking about someone besides the Boss? Huh, they really were friends. "I did not wish to speak ill of Muzaka to Frankenstein, but my friend should not have been responsible for a child. Sharing your soul with another… can help." Raizel glanced at him questioningly. It was unusual for him to show that kind of hesitance and worry, but this whole thing was his idea. Was he afraid his bright idea hadn't helped Tao?

"Pets are great for mental health!" Tao held up the fishbowl and smiled. "It's not what you guys have, but… wait a minute." Boss had said that he thought it might not be a bad idea to find some way for Tao to have a mental connection that wasn't as intense as a contract. Tao wasn't going to get all obsessive and dedicated to a bunch of sleeping fishies, and he knew that was part of what Boss was worried about, that he'd dedicate himself to a little brother like Ikhan or a contractor or something instead of learning to live for _himself,_ after the Union tried to take that away from him, make him think he didn't matter. "So this is instead of a contract with you or Boss?"

A nod. "I may not be able to give you the power to protect yourself," Raizel said sadly. "If bearing the soul of another grants humans happiness, then you deserve one that will not be taken from you."

When Raizel died. "Don't worry, a soul weapon is a great consolation prize!" He could see that the Noblesse was relieved, so he rambled on to change the subject. "If you can wake up nobles like that, can you wake them up all the way? Out of eternal sleep?"

"Most nobles went into eternal sleep because it was their wish. They would not appreciate being ordered awake," Raizel told him. "And the Second Lord wished for nobles to experience consequences for their actions. It is not possible for a noble who has entered eternal sleep to return to the waking world unless the way is open."

"Soooo… every full moon, then?"

He shook his head. "More than simply the moon must be in the proper places."

Wait. Wait wait wait. All these nobles were sleeping, not dead, and could return _when the stars were aligned?_

So… did humanity really have the nobles as outnumbered as it seemed like they did? If nobles could just come back and humans didn't unless Dark Spear counted?

When Tao stopped Raizel kept walking, and he stared at the Noblesse's back, mind working furiously. Thinking about how Raizel could make people, even Tao, totally overlook him, and judging from what Regis said that was SOP. Nobles hid themselves, or not even hid, just talked to humans without humans freaking out, by making humans think they weren't important… because otherwise humans could sense that something that powerful was _kind of important_ , and if like someone from Cerberus was right there and had already seen you then you'd better be able to give them a reason not to squish you.

The Union thought that Lukedonia was really weak right now because half the clan leaders left and the other half were _centuries-old_ , ancient by human standards. They got overconfident enough that even though taking on Lukedonia was the entire reason they'd allied in the first place, they stopped thinking it mattered?

Tao tilted his head to the side. "You guys _want_ humans to underestimate nobles?" According to Union tactics, you wanted, needed to appear even if you couldn't be as strong as possible, but there were other tactics than just that. Like, if you weren't powerful enough to take someone on, then you could survive by making it clear you weren't a threat? Was that what humans did, until now humans were a threat? Or were they? Was that what they were _supposed_ to think?

Raizel turned. "It is necessary to have faith in ourselves, to have the strength to claim responsibility for our actions. Humans must learn to believe in yourselves, or else you will continue to," was there a bit of hesitation before, "die young."

"But if you're there, and you're so strong, then… why bother. But if you're not _that_ tough, and maybe we could be stronger than you if we try…" An arms race, Tao's Union-trained mind supplied. Humans attacking them would force nobles to get serious, humans had the numbers to take losses as long as noble culture still ruled out slaughtering civilians. Humans would come back, angry over the people who died in the war: if the Previous Lord thought like the Union, thought that making the nobles stronger was important and it didn't matter who died, that was how Tao would… would have set it up. When he was with the Union.

But they were better than that. Knew there were better things than the ability to kill. Raizel was the Avatar of Power, and he still thought strength wasn't going to save you.

He could feel the souls. Not just the ball of light in his hands, but sleeping presences in the back of his mind. A reminder that he wasn't alone, that he _mattered_.

After DA-5 was destroyed, Tao accepted M-21's invitation to stay because why not? Even if they had to bail, there was a chance to get M-21 who was a lot stronger than he should have been and had survived leaving the Union, at least for awhile. He might have advice, experience Tao could use.

Except that meant he'd chosen to stay in the same house as a _scientist_ and even if leaving came with the risk of being hauled back to the Union's scientists too, there wasn't _anywhere_ without the danger of labs unless he wanted to just die, the house should still have felt _less_ safe than the alternatives. Here there were people who knew what he looked like, it would be harder to be safely anonymous.

But these guys were powerful, and Tao was able to acquire Regis and now Seira for RK. He knew _he_ didn't have the power to fight the Union, but Boss and the nobles… when he'd thought Boss _was_ a noble. He should have been scared of nobles, and he was of Raizel kind of because he didn't talk much and Tao couldn't get a read on him – then there was how the other 'nobles' reacted to him – but something in him wanted to be near them. The way Boss stayed in Raizel's house?

"It would be really easy for nobles to take over humans and just do what you wanted…" From what Tao had been looking up about religion, a lot of people would be happy about it.

"It is not that humans are weak. It is very easy for a clan leader to use their power to abuse the members of their clan," Raizel said sadly.

Like Roctis abandoning the Kravei? If that was even all he'd done. When a clan was like family, so of course they would have trusted him if he seemed to be a nice guy until then? So how nobles and humans living together was going to be okay wasn't actually a new problem for the nobles: keeping the strong from abusing weaker people who loved and trusted them was a _big_ problem and a lot of Raizel's job. So if they figured out a better way to do it, then Raizel wouldn't have to die, huh, and that mattered to the Previous Lord.

"If we do not treat humans with honor, then we will not treat ourselves with honor," said the Noblesse.

The Union would have wondered 'so what?' but so _everything_ , Tao knew now. What was the household but people being nice to each other? Being nice and protecting people was _everything_ good, everything worth having. That was why he was Raizel's Knight. That was why he was even _more_ determined to be Raizel's Knight after finding out that he wasn't all-powerful. He didn't _want_ to cling to the most powerful person, he wanted to protect someone sick who would grow weak if Tao didn't do something.

And that was why Tao had a family, and a house, and a soul weapon, and a Boss and a Raizel, and a job, and…

If nobles weren't perfect, then humans could protect them. Protecting someone was much better than chasing after them. That was something he'd learned here, and he wasn't the only one who felt that way. There were reasons nobles thought the will-to-protect was important, and Tao bet they'd make much more sense after a few centuries, once he got to experience more of it.

"Sneaky," he said admiringly.

The Union tried to tell Tao he didn't matter, but Raizel _mattered_. Raizel needed to be protected, so if he needed Tao, then Tao mattered. And if he protected Raizel, if Raizel lived longer because of him… then he'd be really happy.

It might be instinct to just stand there and admire nobles, but protecting someone was _much_ better so Tao would definitely do that instead… He yawned, and blinked at himself.

 _Sort_ of like being tired, but… was this what unmodified humans felt when they got tired?

"We must not stay here," Raizel said, and stepped closer. Tao nodded permission for Raizel to pick him up, raising his hand to cover another yawn.

Sleeping people all around them, so it was safe and comfy here and Tao kind of wanted to go to sleep with everyone else. He wrapped some of his cables around Raizel, and normally he would have quickly said that he was just doing it to make it less awkward to carry him but Raizel didn't act like he was surprised or Tao had taken a liberty.

" _Mine,"_ Tao thought, pleased. He could have tried harder to stay awake, maybe verified that summoning a soul weapon would improve his mental defenses, but he had someone to carry him when he needed it and he just wanted to enjoy that. And that was ok. Helping him would even make Raizel happy.

He had the _best_ family.

So was it greedy of him to want even more? Well, Boss wanted them to decide their own goals and dream big, right?

* * *

 _When pre-humans 'domesticated' fire, it meant we could make meat safe to eat and crack a lot more calories out of root vegetables, and our brains became thirty percent larger very fast because we could now afford to build and fuel those systems. That might have been when pre-humans went from just one of many species with enough under the hood for a contract to having enough of a psyche/psychic signature that we could grab noble attention._

 _Nobles and fires are both very good things to have at your campground – ditto water sources, which would appear shiny from a distance. All three of those things are also dangerous – we're not the only predator that liked to stake out water sources. If you live at a house with a pool, you need to teach any small children to swim because they_ will _get in there._

 _The novelization's version of how people react to Rai until he suppresses his aura is interesting reading (and explains why Frankenstein didn't sense him coming)._

 _Tao latching on to Ikhan vs. Shark approaching him with 'I kill the civilians because I don't like Takeo, but I like you,' when he knows he needs allies… Tao is like Frankenstein, even if he wasn't 'alone' for anywhere near as long._

 _But they both have that human need for a safe place, and someone who cares, and nobles are a source of that. Tao's already prone to completely changing around his behavior to survive/get people to approve of him – approval is a very real need, even if he's no longer in the Union and won't be disposed of if he irritates people._

 _Frankenstein and Rai were both lonely and felt unwanted, so they want to make sure Tao doesn't feel alone anymore. They wanted Tao to know that he didn't need to dedicate himself to one person, that there were lots of people in the world who would care for him, and this may have backfired amusingly because Tao wants_ all _of the hugs. See canon 'you will be assimilated into RK~'_

 _The etymology of noble is 'well-known,' and there's the comparison of the nobles to Suyi. Wondering if the human obsession with celebrities/'the beautiful people' is also a sublimation of old instincts re. nobles in the Noblesse 'verse – acting started as religious rituals. It's basically certain that the nobles have fan clubs, at least the school even if they may not have spread outside of it._ Yet _._


	24. Discipline

_This chapter delayed partially by an attack of worry that it was terrible._

* * *

The next morning Seira had given Tao a nod along with his coffee, but Tao didn't read much into it. He had just grinned back, because yes, it worked! And he was fine, and Raizel seemed to be fine too, with Seira's help.

…Well, that was the opposite of not reading anything into it, come to think of it.

"Now be sure to scan yourself thoroughly before flying back here," Frankenstein told him, standing by the door of the helicopter as Tao started the pre-flight checks.

Boss hadn't scanned him here on the island – probably because his Master had looked Tao over. The equipment in the main lab was better, and Frankenstein wanted Tao to learn how to take care of himself, too. Not because he _had_ to, but so that he could if he wanted or needed to.

Tao nodded, half-listening but also focused on making sure the helicopter wasn't going to crash (he'd be fine, but they needed it for cargo! Or else Boss absolutely would make them run back and forth to the island carrying everything) and the soul weapon. Was this what it was like to have a pet asleep on your lap? Because he totally understood why (other) evil geniuses had one, then. It wasn't intrusive or distracting, just _there_.

He'd really grown to like having someone there, now he'd had a chance to get used to it, living with them.

"If you're having trouble controlling _anything,_ stay there and call me immediately. Hopefully you'll be able to stabilize yourself with biofeedback, but don't even think about pretending you'll be fine so I'll focus on Shinwoo, Tao. Shinwoo has Miss Seira to help him control any noble energies in his system, and Master will also be here." If Frankenstein had to literally run over to the mainland to help Tao, he would.

"Don't worry, Boss!" Tao said, saluting.

That earned him a slight glare, which just made Tao even more chipper. He was sure his grin was annoying the Boss, but that was because he wanted Tao to be okay and value himself. Even though it was Tao's _job_ to protect the students. "I can't protect anyone if I'm dead, right?" Tao pointed out, thinking that might reassure him.

"Tao… You just obtained a _soul weapon_."

So yes, it was possible to protect the people you cared about even after you died and Tao made a mental note to look into that even knowing that Frankenstein could absolutely just _see_ him doing that and it wasn't going to make him any happier.

Last word obtained, Boss stepped back from the helicopter to join Raizel, Shinwoo and Seira. Shinwoo waved as Tao took off. Raizel and Seira tipped their heads back as the helicopter rose in the air. Boss did the same, but with a hand shading his eyes, even though enhanced eyes could take it. Pretending human – ordinary human – limits was that automatic for him, after all this time? Unlike Tao, though, Frankenstein's memories were never wiped. He remembered being an ordinary person.

Tao wondered sometimes. What it was like to be ordinary, when he had the kind of ordinary life Shinwoo might not be able to have anymore. But… being ordinary hadn't protected whoever he was before he was Tao.

That was the job they were given: keeping Boss' precious students safe, the way Boss' Master and Boss had saved them. That was the most important thing to them, keeping everyone safe. Making sure they had a chance to be happy.

Shinwoo might not be ordinary anymore, but he definitely seemed happy. Not that Tao was going to second-guess Miss Seira. Or try to blackmail her. He hadn't been made yesterday.

* * *

Master stood there watching Tao fly away until he finally nodded and turned. Satisfied that Tao was a safe distance away, he walked towards the area Frankenstein's training sessions had already flattened.

Seira and Shinwoo followed, but Frankenstein hastened his steps to walk beside him. He wished he could have asked Raizel to leave with Tao, but that would mean that Shinwoo was the one in danger.

"Frankenstein, you have my permission to undo the seal on your power."

"Yes, Master." Frankenstein bowed, grateful that he had Raizel's permission to protect him if something went wrong. That was something, at least. He still remembered when Master helped Raskreia train with her soul weapon, how Master's hair looked gray in the moonlight.

"I will shield us while Shinwoo summons his power," Seira said, stepping forward.

Frankenstein smiled. "Master and I are just discussing contingencies. If something does go wrong, please focus on helping Shinwoo regain control of the power. I'll protect Master."

"Is there anything I should do to get ready?" Shinwoo asked.

He'd already centered himself and was breathing correctly, Frankenstein was pleased to see. "Don't focus on staying calm or remaining in control. That amount of power _should_ worry you, and a soul weapon is a partner, not an extension of yourself. You don't use them, you petition them. I'm sure they'll be happy to help, if you let them." Dark Spear was _very_ happy to kill their enemies. It was holding them back from 'helping' that was the trouble. But if he'd ever _dared_ treat them like property for him to control…

"I'm not going to order around Seira's family."

"I certainly hope not." Frankenstein smirked. "That wouldn't give your girlfriend's father a good first impression of you."

Shinwoo winced, shifting his weight to the back foot. "No way, Chairman."

"Are you ready to begin?" Frankenstein asked.

"I think so."

Frankenstein returned his nod and went to stand a few feet ahead of Master, but still with Miss Seira between him and Shinwoo. "Miss Seira, if you would?"

She held out a hand and a spherical shield appeared around them, thicker on the side facing Shinwoo and so thin on the back side it was almost nonexistent. He'd have to correct that during their next training session – it was good technique for deflecting a shockwave, but when preparing to face an unknown assault, you needed to take into account the possibility of an area effect.

For now, he focused on Shinwoo. "When you're ready."

Shinwoo closed his eyes and when they opened again, they were white slits. Most of the energy radiating from him was Miss Seira's, but Frankenstein could detect traces of Master's power, Regis' and even his own, the same way he'd sensed Ragar's soul from Rael and knew the noble had a soul weapon.

Weeks spent sitting in class with the nobles, coming over to Frankenstein's house – but this wasn't just osmosis, Shinwoo must have absorbed significant amounts of their auras for the power to remain detectable as a black robe appeared behind and around Shinwoo.

"That's good," Shinwoo said, making a fist and watching a skeletal arm follow his movement. "I don't know how to fight with a scythe."

His brow furrowed, and Frankenstein saw the young man's muscles tense with effort as he spoke. "Dismiss them," Frankenstein said. "We can work on how long you can keep them manifested later."

"Phew," Shinwoo said, and fell forward into the dirt. His front end landed in a ditch, and he slid forward a few centimeters before he managed to stop his descent.

"…You were floating," Seira told him.

So, when Shinwoo summoned the Loyard soul weapon, he called out the same manifestation Seira did when she used the soul weapon to call on her ancestors. He'd never seen a clan leader use that manifestation for very long – given noble notions of elegance, it seemed to be a last resort. Perhaps the issue was that traditionally, adult nobles, especially clan leaders, weren't supposed to need help. Disturbing the sleep of their ancestors in order to win would be a blow to a noble's pride.

"I'm okay!" Shinwoo said, getting back up. "I need a bit before I can do that again."

Frankenstein was pleased he was willing to admit he had limits. "That's why I want you to find out what you can do now, instead of on the battlefield. You can't push your limits successfully if you don't know what they are." He looked to Master. "Shall we break for lunch?"

Master looked at the lab building with concern in his eyes.

"There will be ramyeon," Miss Seira told him, and Master relaxed, nodding to Frankenstein before leading the way.

Frankenstein would have to thank M-21 and the others for helping him with his experiments to create optimal, fortified ramyeon, otherwise Seira would have made something else for Shinwoo. Not that Frankenstein minded taking time to prepare Master's ramyeon, but they had more tests to perform today and they needed Shinwoo in top form.

The second test was if Shinwoo could summon Death Scythe's power while Seira was using the weapon. The answer was yes; more evidence that Shinwoo's summoning was more like Seira or Urokai summoning an ancestral form from the weapon than splitting it in two the way Ragar had Kartas. Death Scythe didn't disappear from Seira's hands when _she_ called forth the Reaper; why should it vanish when Shinwoo did?

The third test Frankenstein had planned was seeing if Shinwoo could call on Death Scythe to Awaken him. There was a strong possibility, especially since Seira and Shinwoo were so fond of each other – the bond of love would theoretically strengthen the bond of souls, when soul weapons (other than Master, of course) needed a parent's love for a child to perform an awakening.

Then again, Frankenstein realized, watching Master as he performed the thrice-daily miracle that was elegantly eating a bowl of ramyeon without noodles going everywhere or slurping noises, _had_ Master ever performed an awakening without love? He'd seen both M-21's soul and Frankenstein's before he awakened them, and while Master said that _humanity_ 's love grew quick and strong, Master…

Frankenstein smiled softly, watching Raizel press a napkin to his lips, not because _he_ needed to but as a tactful hint that Shinwoo should do the same.

" _Frankenstein_." Not a sign showed on Raizel's face that he had sent a message to his bonded, so Frankenstein was careful to keep his own expression exactly the same.

" _Summon Dark Spear as soon as Shinwoo is Awakened, and be ready."_

" _Yes, Master_."

Frankenstein was careful to show no more (or _less_ ) worry than usual as they got ready for the next trial. That meant he was standing a little closer to Miss Seira than he would have liked, but Master would have a reason to avoid warning the children. "Begin when ready," he told Shinwoo.

" _Heed my call_ ," he whispered in the back of his mind as Shinwoo's eyes closed and black energy surged around him.

Humans, nobles and werewolves all manipulated energy differently, and one of the best ways to tell what kind of opponent he was fighting was examining the shape of their aura – curves verses lines, radiating or seeking paths of least resistance. When the shape of the power Shinwoo summoned changed to something resembling Dark Spear without the traces of purple, that was when Frankenstein reached one hand forward to grab Seira's jacket and throw her behind him and another up to the sky to grasp, "Dark Spear."

A moment later he needed both hands in front of him. The effort to keep the shield optimally spherical was abandoned in the pursuit of keeping _some_ amount of energy between Master, Seira, and the lines of power that were attracted to those power sources.

If they struck, then, like lightning, they'd reduce the difference in charge between the things they connected, but here that meant moving power from greater concentration to lesser.

Sucking power out of Master, Seira and Frankenstein and channeling it into Shinwoo.

When uncontrolled noble power turned humans into mutants and Master's power, his soul, was falling apart. _He_ couldn't even control it, what would happen if the Noblesse's power entered Shinwoo's soul? Frankenstein had defenses in place to keep a noble's soul from overriding his own, but Shinwoo wasn't even enhanced!

Frankenstein's mind raced as he called for more power from Dark Spear. " _My fingers are barely tingling_ ," he told them, knowing that was because the current was being sucked away from him before it could do more than tickle the nerves in his fingertips, instead of gleefully swarming every part of his nervous system he let them empower.

He watched Dark Spear's purple creep through the aura of power surrounding Shinwoo, until the young man cried out in surprise and the power drain stopped. Frankenstein had only a moment to organize his flowing power into a shield before the charge Shinwoo had built up exploded outwards. Thank goodness that by then Seira was already on her feet and able to throw up her own shield; otherwise Master would have, but he was safe behind the both of them.

"Shinwoo!" he called while the dust was still settling.

"I'm okay, but _ow!_ I thought my fingers were broken!" Shinwoo was shaking out his hands.

"That's what you get for taking something that isn't yours. And I'd better not hear of you using that kind of language around Mr. Park." A single four letter word was a fairly mild reaction to touching Dark Spear's energy directly, all things considered. Frankenstein jumped down to the bottom of the crater. "Show me your hands."

"My fingertips hurt when I touch them," Shinwoo said, touching his thumb to his forefinger again and wincing.

"Then stop doing it." For goodness' sake. "Dark Spear has a lot of practice getting at the nervous system. I can fix the damage, but you'll have to learn how to control your energy flow in case someone tries something similar." Frankenstein touched Shinwoo's wrist, palm, and knuckles on his thumb and index fingers, watching for his reactions. "I'll have to scan you, but it seems the poison was also the cure – this wouldn't have happened if you weren't awakened, but the same facility that let you do this defended you against it."

"What happened?" Seira asked aloud, no longer able to hover while visibly slightly concerned and forced to be rude enough to ask.

"An Awakening doesn't grant someone power from an external source. It calls forth, or optimizes, the dormant power someone possesses. I expected it to boost Shinwoo's strength and speed significantly," the way humans could lift cars if the brakes were taken off – but an Awakening should also have increased his resilience enough he wouldn't break his arms trying. "Humans evolved the ability to take noble power into ourselves and use it through contracts. From there, we may have evolved to absorb the power noble auras radiate the way plants absorb sunlight. I never explored that option myself, because I had no interest in getting power from nobles, but was able to confirm that the principle was sound working with Ragar Kertia – forgive me for not giving you the details, he incorporated them into the clan techniques."

Frankenstein had proposed methods of hiding a clan leader's overwhelming power to test ways of keeping the Noblesse's power from leaking away from him. Master might have forbidden him from experimenting on Ragar, but he'd granted permission for Frankenstein to help Ragar with Ragar's training and experiments. He'd even given Frankenstein permission to undo his seal when sparring with Ragar, allowing him to stay in practice. Frankenstein and Ragar weren't _friends_ , but if it made Master happy to think that they were, Frankenstein wasn't going to give more than a token denial.

Seira nodded automatically, eyes a little wide. Of course it would be improper to pry into someone else's clan techniques.

Not that Frankenstein cared, and Seira _was_ an ally of the Kertia, but… he was letting himself get distracted. "Master, when you Awakened me after I was devoured by Dark Spear…" He hid a wince at the memory of what that cost Raizel.

"You healed yourself with Dark Spear's power."

Healing? With _Dark Spear's_ power? Healing _him?_ That only seemed possible if Frankenstein's power drain had weakened Dark Spear too much for them to keep him from purifying their power, much less keep him imprisoned. He was still unconscious for some time after Master Awakened him… but why did that surprise him, he knew what Dark Spear wanted to do to him if they had the chance. They wouldn't have restrained themselves. Couldn't restrain that many selves. Thankfully he hadn't suffered long: millions of attacks on his mind at once had made it shut down.

He'd still been in shock when he woke up, now that he thought about it. Dark Spear should have jumped on such a vulnerable emotional state, tormented him with all their might so he felt too worthless to offer his blood to Master instead of to them. Had he drained them into unconsciousness? _All_ of them?

If that was even possible, if there was some way to spare them even a few days of suffering at a time... He couldn't afford to look into it now, not when he might need Dark Spear at any moment. Also, they'd never forgive him for knocking them out if it made them miss the death of a Union agent.

That was what Frankenstein had done when awakened, and he'd tried to keep his soul from attaching to a noble's soul. Dark Spear? Dark Spear absorbed human and noble souls alike, fed on them with glee. That was why wounds inflicted by Dark Spear were so slow to heal – the traces of Dark Spear's energy left behind fed on the victim's energy as they tried to heal the wound. It was why he was certain of his ability to defeat Gradeus. While a clan leader with his experience should have good control over their own power, and would be able to purify themselves of Dark Spear's energies the way Ragar crushed them out of his hand when Frankenstein first fought him, Gradeus' strategy _required_ bleeding his power all over the battlefield where Dark Spear could easily consume it. Leaving Gradeus to experience the _normal_ effects of major blood loss.

He'd thought that consuming the soul energy (and souls) of the living was a property of Dark Spear. It might be a property of the source material - of human souls. A human power.

He hadn't let Shinwoo latch on to any of their souls, but if he had?

Frankenstein was very, _very_ glad Master insisted that Tao leave the island before they began these trials. Cetus would be some protection, but the Union had done its best to make sure that Tao's soul would never grow strong enough to defy them. His will might not be stunted anymore, but it was still injured.

What predator could resist injured prey?

He'd planned to use that very fact to get Dark Spear to agree to lend Tao power, if it came to that. Dark Spear would know that they had a chance to take over Tao, so as much as they hated the thought of answering to another master, _any_ master, they wouldn't be able to resist the urge to pounce. One of the earlier enhancements he'd given the three of them was the ability to resist Dark Spear's effect and heal wounds it caused, because he knew Dark Spear would be lashing out at them. Then they asked him to train them and it became very fortunate that he had.

Now this.

"I assume you didn't consciously choose to try to drain Rai's power," he told Shinwoo, "so it may be instinct to try to absorb any power in range."

"What?" Shinwoo jumped, turning to Rai, horrified. "Are you okay?"

"I am fine, Shinwoo." He didn't smile, but Master was touched as always by someone's concern for his life. It was just a pity that his first reaction wasn't happiness, but the sort of confusion that made him hide behind his reserve until it sank in.

"Are you sure?" Shinwoo hovered around Rai, looking at him from different angles, and if he could sense any of Master's weakness, he would definitely blame it on what just happened.

"He's fine, Shinwoo. Miss Seira and I made certain of it. However, we can't have you accidentally draining your allies." Or civilians. It looked as though those tendrils headed for the strongest power sources in range, but if the only energies in range belonged to loosely-tethered souls?

If Frankenstein wanted one of his students to have a horde of angry ghosts in their head, he'd have given Dark Spear to Tao right away so he had time to practice with it (if he survived) instead of taking the risk that the Union might attack while he was hesitating. If he gave Tao Dark Spear to survive an attack, for Tao to go directly into combat with a weapon he could barely control?

Seira didn't have infinite amounts of power and could only keep Death Scythe manifested for so long. Noble maturity wasn't a matter of years, exactly, but there had to be some reason Gejutel could throw around so much more power than Seira and Rajak could. A noble might have dismissed it as some age or clan-related 'thing,' but Frankenstein was a scientist. If there was a thing, then that thing could be studied and eventually replicated. For now, Frankenstein had already verified that Shinwoo could store some amount of noble energy, but once he used up that charge he would be a drain on Seira's resources.

If he could be a drain on _enemy_ resources instead? And Shinwoo and Seira had a true contract. Power could flow both ways between them. It would be difficult at best to wear down a werewolf (perhaps with psychological attacks), but with a clan leader like Seira it might be possible. If an enemy ignored the weak human to focus on the clan leader, not knowing that Shinwoo was was using the power he leeched from the enemy to replace Seira's energy?

"I don't want to hurt you guys. If it's a reflex, is there some way to train myself out of it?" Shinwoo asked. A martial artist needed to train themselves out of several instinctive responses to danger that were suboptimal or actively counterproductive.

"Exactly what I was thinking." Frankenstein smiled and raised a hand, letting his now-dark aura creep over it, covering fingers with claws. "I find that the burned hand teaches best."

Shinwoo gulped, but stood his ground instead of arguing with the person in charge of his training.

Maybe Shinwoo's martial arts training was more of an advantage than Frankenstein had thought. In any case, "You absorbed enough power that you should be able to summon Death Scythe again – or at least more often than once in four hours. Master, Miss Seira, if you would step back please?"

* * *

As they sat in the common area of the island's lab building, Seira could feel the guilt as well as see it in Shinwoo's eyes. Her Bonded – she was considering the matter of choosing the proper word for it. Literature class had explained these things called 'connotations' that humans used to pack extra meaning into words, and it was easy for slip-ups to occur.

Like the name of her species, 'those who know themselves,' connotating 'arrogant parasite who sees others as lesser beings and property.' Something would have to be done about that. Unfortunately Homo Sentiens wasn't an option when they weren't relatives of humanity even though the genes they had were mainly human ones.

It was a problem, and as of yet she did not have the education to make a suggestion to the Lord. At least 'Lukedonian' would do for now in the official correspondence between them and whatever nations the Lord saw fit to contact, since that could be treated as a matter of countries allying against the Union.

But 'Bonded' connotated 'bondage' instead of 'sacred bond' in modern times. Those who had a sacred bond with each other were called 'married,' but that implied that the humans might be having sex, and Seira knew from attending a high school that humans found the version of events where people were having sex more interesting and thus more appealing than the version where they weren't. Especially when those people were attractive. They might even feel cheated or as though the word was not appropriate or accurate if some human and noble contractors did not have sex.

A 'contract' might be an arrangement where two beings chose to take on obligations towards each other, but it connotated 'business arrangement,' as though souls could be bought and sold. It stank of the Union.

Shinwoo kept glancing at where his principal was sitting next to Sir Raizel, humming at a handful of black-purple charms hovering in the air between his hands.

Sir Raizel was angled slightly away from Sir Frankenstein to indicate his displeasure. Sir Raizel had given Frankenstein permission to release his seal so that his bonded would experience _less_ pain and worry, not so that Frankenstein could come home late after whatever he had done to make Dark Spear produce those charms with his clothing in disarray. From what Seira saw before Frankenstein went below to get changed, the configuration of shreds that was all that remained of his shirt indicated significant wounds, not just Dark Spear's usual level of venting.

Frankenstein was pretending he was too happily focused on his creations to notice Sir Raizel's displeasure so that his bonded would see that Frankenstein was happy and fine and in no way in pain, including the pain of displeasing his liege.

Shinwoo was pushing the remains of his ramyeon around in his bowl because Frankenstein had told him that the charms were a solution to the problem of training Shinwoo to avoid automatically draining others, instead of just learning to avoid Frankenstein's aura alone. That meant that the Chairman getting 'banged up' and Raizel being unhappy because of it were because of Shinwoo's inability to control his power when awakened.

Being noisy like this was also unusual for her housekeeping teacher – she had been present when he invented new recipes often enough to know that he did _not_ hum when he was thinking contentedly. So to the nobles in the room, the noise was a transparent attempt to conceal that he wasn't happy with the current situation.

The lie was insulting, but that could be excused when Frankenstein was trying to reassure them. If he refrained from insulting them, Raizel would worry. So would Seira, for that matter. She would think it was a sign he was unwell, except she had seen Frankenstein outnumbered and heavily injured and he had only increased the frequency of his insults. No, if Frankenstein managed to go without insulting anyone she would be concerned that someone had managed to trespass on his will and make him act in a way that went against who he was.

Just thinking about it made her glance at him now, with concern equal to Shinwoo's.

Now Sir Raizel was looking at her, worried – what had upset her so?

She drew herself up and topped off her cup of tea to reassure Sir Raizel that she would handle it as a clan leader and he should focus on Frankenstein.

That made Shinwoo glance between her and Sir Raizel and send her a ? with a plea to know what was going on and was Frankenstein going to be okay and was it his fault everyone was on edge?

"Here, Master," Frankenstein said with a bow.

Raizel frowned at the charm. "I have told you that this color is not my style." Not when the charm was the color of Dark Spear, a reminder of Frankenstein's pain.

But despite his sigh Raizel still reached out and took the charm, ignoring Frankenstein's look of desperate apology, so that Frankenstein could smile with relief once the bracelet was back around Sir Raizel's wrist. Once his Bonded was even a little bit safer.

When she felt Shinwoo smiling at her she turned to him with a ?, the way she had after Suyi not only turned down Rael but told her 'Good luck with the unwanted harem.'

"You've got…" he gestured to her cheeks, indicating that there was color on them and blushing himself.

She should have tried to regain her composure, but it struck her again how adorable he was. No, adorable wasn't quite right. Shinwoo wasn't ' _able_ to be adored.' Instead it was very clearly _imperative_ that he be adored. It was impossible that he not be.

Not when he looked at her with that same emotion reflected in his eyes, leaving her to wonder how they could be so alike and so different, all at the same time. Or how someone who had barely had the chance to start figuring out who they were already knew it was their nature to protect others with the same will that forced even the Noblesse to sigh and submit to Frankenstein's efforts to protect him, because who could stand against such a shining will?

Shinwoo might not be elegant but he was precious. A rare jewel to _shine_ like this. The same light that protected all of Ye Ran, and he was willing to let her bring him home. Willing to protect the Loyard with her, help make her manor a _home_ again.

"Do you want to go outside?" Shinwoo asked, ducking his head with embarrassment, because, " _We can't kiss in front of the Chairman?"_

Seira stood up _immediately_. She tried to maintain composure, but Shinwoo took her hand, grinning, and it was fortunate that it wasn't very far to the door.

* * *

 _I have a lot of fun with the worldbuilding in this 'verse. Humans: amazingly nice for a species that_ eats souls _. Of course, we may have an ulterior motive for wanting nobles to stay for dinner…_

 _Since the Rai's brother reveal, one needs a reason someone who was probably the Noblesse, and therefore responsible for protecting the nobles, felt humanity had to go despite how we're advantageous to them._

 _While nobles and werewolves seem to be perpetual motion machines (canonically werewolves can get mass from nowhere and Seira casually makes matter 'go away'), if humans want energy we need to get it from_ somewhere _, and if you tried to power energy blasts with hunting/gathering you'd over-harvest your range and starve next year, so we may have adapted to specifically_ not _fuel psychic abilities with our normal metabolisms_. _Since most nobles can't hide because they're constantly radiating that much soul energy, and we know it's possible for humans to make use of noble power…_

 _Old Mother Nature - out eldritch abominationing Azathoth since the first proto-plants exterminated damn near all other life on earth with chemical weapons._

 _Or to sum up – because Physics, humans need an external source of soul energy. That meant leeching off of nobles, which would have condemned us to an existence as a dependent race; consuming the souls of other sapient beings (eg. monkeys, dogs) making us obligate carnivores if not obligate cannibals; letting Raizel's brother exterminate us (which would have been the obvious route for nobles, their survival instinct works differently); letting the Lord modify us into something convenient for nobles (because the Previous Lords had to do it that way); or develop to the point that we could create an alternative for_ ourselves _– eg. enhancing ourselves into something still human but able to screw physics enough to no longer need an external energy source._

 _Obviously that last one was the optimum, but as long as we had nobles around the need was met and we had other priorities. Once the nobles left…_


	25. Playdate

_Dedicated to_ _Aethelhild, who wrote the hundredth review but declined a giftfic because they didn't want to ask for more when I was working on things._

 _My apologies for updates on things slowing down this much, I'm working on getting back on a sleep schedule etc._

* * *

One hit and she'd be dead – that was the reality Yonsu had to face, when she joined the fight against that member of Cerberus because otherwise one of the people who had gotten themselves mixed up in this to save her husband was going to die. In the end, for all the risks she and Sangeen had taken, all the strength they'd gained, they were as helpless against the Union as their country.

 _But at least she could make them work for it_. They might be able to swat her, but trying might keep them busy enough for someone who could handle them to take them out.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, she had wondered if that was only something she had told herself to keep from feeling completely useless. From facing the fact that she was weak and therefore helpless, like the Union would say.

"I want to spar," she'd told Takeo when he arrived with _that_ noble for backup again – Tao was absent for the first time since their first meeting with these two.

After a moment, Takeo had nodded, and smiled understandingly. "The abandoned area, or did you have somewhere else in mind?"

"I can get rid of the humans around here, it won't take long," the noble said, "but I suppose you're strong enough to damage the buildings."

"The ruined area sounds good," Sangeen said. "Do you mind if we set up cameras? We couldn't fight in the open before," too much risk the Union might find out, "so they're still trying to figure out exactly how much we can do."

"Not enough," said the noble, rolling his eyes as though that was obvious. "Are the cameras in that case?" He held out his hand for it demandingly when Sangeen nodded. "I'll pick a place and set up," he told Takeo when Sangeen complied.

"Thank you," Takeo said, nodding, and Rael took the excuse to vanish. "Tao taught him how to set up cameras, because he can get them in place quickly without much risk of detection," he explained. "Shall we?"

They headed towards the district, and Yonsu knew that if Takeo wasn't holding back he would have been out of sight quickly. At their pace, the noble was able to meet them on the way. "Over here," he said, and was quickly out of sight even jumping from building to building slowly enough that they could see him.

"There isn't much cover," Takeo said after they'd jumped down to the ground near where Rael was standing.

Rael gave him a look that was mostly offended but with a trace of worry in there. Had Takeo hit his head, was that why he was that stupid? "Cover is _useless_ ," he said as though _everyone_ should know that. "Do you still have bad habits from when the Union sent you to kill humans who couldn't fight back? You fight alongside Regis; anyone who can give a pureblood trouble _will_ find you if you're stupid enough to stay in one place." And having a wall between you and the enemy was useless fighting enhanced humans.

"Unless M-21 and Regis keep them too busy to go after anyone attacking from a distance," Takeo said, and Rael nodded.

"The Bluster clan can fight from far enough away that no one who isn't as fast as a Kertia can close the distance if they keep moving, but you're not a member of the Bluster clan," he told Takeo.

Takeo frowned. "When we're training against the Chairman, Tao and I have to be close enough to move in quickly and draw fire away from Regis or M-21 while they recover."

"He's as strong as a clan leader – even purebloods like Regis shouldn't be fighting clan leaders."

"…I don't think Regis expects to be given a choice."

"He's a Landegre – he doesn't _have_ a choice if they're attacking people in front of him, even enhanced humans like you. They were _all_ like that before the Union used it to slaughter them. I've been trying to beat it out of Regis for a century and it was pointless." Rael made a face, disgusted. "If those enhanced humans fight like Landegre they'll just die uselessly. Regis helped save you, didn't he?" he asked them, and Sangeen nodded. "If you die, you would have gotten a child beaten up for nothing." He glared at them, hands on his hips. "If we're going to be training you, then you'd better take it seriously and fight like Kertia, or you'll have done nothing but waste our time when we _could_ have been doing real training and getting stronger."

When if Yonsu and Sangeen were useless, these people's strength was the only thing standing between South Korea and the Union.

"Clan Kertia scouts the human world, so they have to worry about being captured by Union enhanced humans?" From the way he glanced at them Takeo was saying this, thinly disguised as a question, for their benefit.

"That's what we thought, but if the traitors joined the Union and they have werewolves helping them, how many clan members we lost makes more sense. No noble but my brother could hide themselves from a _clan leader_ , and some of the werewolves might be fast enough to keep up with an ordinary clan member."

The way it was impossible for Sangeen to get away from Cerberus – Yonsu remembered listening to his report on what happened that night, clenching her fists at how helpless she felt even after it was over. How easily he could have been snuffed out without her even knowing until Cerberus came for her too.

"When the traitor clan leaders invade Lukedonia-"

"When they?" Takeo interrupted. "They've done it before?"

"No, but of course they will." Rael glared, annoyed at being interrupted and having to say something painfully obvious. " _For_ whenthey invade, Ludis and my brother are trying to train the Central Order Knights to fall back and warn nobles in their path to leave so the clan leaders and the Lord don't have to hold back while they fight. But when _you_ invaded? They might have known it was Regis, but even if it was just _Regis_ , they should have gotten Ludis instead of fighting a pureblood. I helped my brother beat sense into our clan, but we don't have the time to retrain all the knights when the Union is up to so much."

Yonsu let him talk instead of telling them to hurry up and start the spar: this should be getting caught on tape. "Sangeen?" she asked quietly.

He took his cellphone out of his pocket and nodded to her a moment later.

Good. She nodded and turned back to those two.

"If I hadn't left on my training trip, I would have had to help train them."

"How would you have trained them?" Takeo asked.

"Hit them until they got better at dodging and learned to respect a pureblood, obviously. I've been helping my brother out with training the Kertia since I was _sixty_."

Takeo smiled. "So this was something you did with your big brother?"

Rael's cheeks reddened and he turned away a little. "It was training! They could just keep ahead of me when I didn't know what I was doing, and they had to get better as I got better. Rajak stayed slow enough that I could see him and only used the abilities I was learning, but that wasn't just for my sake, it was because anything else was too much for them."

"I can see that it might have been, when both of you had soul weapons."

Rael just got more embarrassed. "I had a duty to help train the clan, when our soul weapon…" he noticed them looking and shut up, although his blush just deepened when he stuck his nose back in the air. "You! Start fighting and try not to let Takeo hit you."

"Count of three?" Sangeen asked Takeo.

The maybe-former assassin smiled. "Three," he said, and leapt at them.

Sangeen and Yonsu both dodged to opposite sides, forcing him to pick one of them to follow – that would give the other a shot at attacking him from behind. It would have been better if he went after Yonsu – she was the better close-quarters fighter, while Sangeen could use his aura to fight at a distance – but, no, _so_ of course he went after Sangeen.

"What are you doing!" Rael demanded, sounding offended, but that seemed to be his default state. "Don't put yourself back in his range, human! One of you should survive to report an enemy like this!"

"Shouldn't we treat this as a team exercise?" Takeo called over to Rael, flipping over Sangeen's knives casually.

"I suppose they're too slow for either of them to escape, so she might as well try to let her comrade get far enough away from you that he's not completely useless," Rael conceded after a few seconds of scowling. "Otherwise, you would just go after her – it wouldn't take long to kill that insult to knives."

Takeo was pulling his punches. Yonsu _had_ worked more at drilling hand-to-hand after the desperate struggle to evade that Cerberus bastard's blows, but it was still too damn easy for Takeo.

How much stronger had he gotten with _Frankenstein_ working on him since that battle with Cerberus? Even a noble training him, when they were practically myths! They _were_ mythology, if they'd been worshipped as gods once!

"Stop!" Rael yelled after awhile.

Yonsu took the chance to take deep breaths, replenishing the oxygen stores that let her keep up high levels of physical exertion for longer, before turning to look at where he was standing there on a chunk of rubble so he could look down on them, arms folded.

"I'm embarrassed just watching that," he told them. "It's useless for you to train this way, even if we had a decade to spend making you less pathetic. Can't you sense your opponent at all?"

"According to the Chairman, their doctor shut down their natural psychic abilities," Takeo reminded Rael.

"Well, they need some way to sense their opponent, or else there's no point. They'll keep moving too late for it to be any help to them, with how slow they are."

"Sense what their opponent is going to do?" Takeo frowned.

"Who can do that against an opponent stronger than them?" And who wasn't stronger than Yonsu and Sangeen. "You know how to sense nobles," he told Takeo. "It's possible to sense humans too. And if your opponent is used to being able to tell where their opponent is, then if you can cloud or trick their sense of you? That's how the Kertia are able to ambush nobles. That's the only way I can see for these two not to get themselves killed."

"If they can sense their enemies, it will be easier to dodge, and if they understand how their enemies are sensing them…" Takeo nodded.

"Even ordinary humans can tell when they are being watched. You! Close your eyes," he told Yonsu and Sangeen. "Other than that, do what you want." He bent down, picking small chunks of concrete out of the rubble. "Takeo, help me throw rocks at them."

Gritting her teeth, Yonsu obeyed and tried to focus her attention on the senses she had left.

She remembered the first Star Wars movie, Obi-Wan training Luke to deflect blaster bolts by putting a metal helmet over his eyes. It was easier to put up with this when it was clearly a lower-tech version of that.

…and a noble could probably throw a rock faster than the blaster bolts in Star Wars, she realized as the first one hit. Not that hard, so whoever threw it was pulling their punches the way Takeo had earlier, but who knew how long until the noble would get fed up and either get some painful shots in or give up on training them, and then how were they supposed to get stronger?

Someone was moving, she could hear footsteps softer than an ordinary human's, but that was Sangeen, she realized after a moment.

"Why are you still standing still?" she heard from right next to hear ear a moment later, and whirled around to punch empty air. "At least try to get your arms between you and the rocks!" Or was she too stupid to even think of that?

Right, this wasn't just a listening exercise, but reaction training. She wouldn't put it past the Union to figure out invisibility – she needed to be able to guard against attacks she didn't see coming. Because the enemy was too fast for her, like a certain noble.

"Do you have any advice for them?" Takeo asked, and two rocks came from his direction while he was talking – at least she could block those.

"What do I know about what Union toys can do? Figure something out, or else you'll be put to sleep and what happens to your KSA then?"

She heard the hum of Sangeen's knives a moment before they hit the ground.

"That's something," Rael said, barely mollified.

"I can't do it that many times," Sangeen said, and Yonsu _wished_ that he shouldn't have said that. It wasn't as though revealing a weakness like that mattered, against these two.

"If it's do it or be forced into eternal sleep, then stay awake!"

"He's not talking about putting down animals, nobles call it eternal sleep instead of death," Takeo said, and the wince in his voice was some consolation. "Keep us talking!" She heard the relief in Takeo's voice, how glad he was to get some idea that might help them.

Rael tched, but, "It's better than nothing, and right now that's what you have."

What were the soles of his shoes even made out of? Takeo's looked like they matched his suit, business formal, but they were quieter than Sangeen's and Yonsu's military-grade. Yonsu thought she'd heard the sound of rocks moving under Rael's weight a few times, but his actual feet hitting the ground didn't seem to make any noise at all. "What happens to your momentum!" she demanded, annoyed. "There has to be friction, or you wouldn't be able to stop!" Going from speeds too fast to see to standing still; that energy had to go somewhere, there should be some kind of vibration in the ground or air.

Silence for a moment: there weren't even any rocks thrown for a few seconds.

"How _do_ you do that?" Takeo wondered.

"Skidding around for fun is inelegant, only _children_ do that! I haven't made marks in the floors since I was less than fifty."

"It's… not something we do for fun," Takeo told him. "We have to learn how to control our strength so we don't leave prints in the floors, by planning how much force to exert and managing momentum. I should have realized it might be different for you when some nobles – and the Chairman – can _fly_ ,"he said, the last part for their benefit.

But they didn't have wings, or at least they'd acted like the Twelfth Elder turning into a bat was strange.

At least she could hear the sounds of fabric sliding against fabric – she guessed from the height that Rael was folding his arms. "…The way your bodies don't do what you want them to do is creepy. I don't see how you can put up with it."

Yonsu went ahead and opened her eyes, hoping they were done with the rock bit.

"Well, the alternative is modification," Takeo said gently. "And usually that means some _one_ else deciding what happens to our bodies, instead of just dealing with forces like gravity."

Rael looked creeped out for a moment, on the verge of shuddering at such a disgusting concept, before he seemed to get a hold of himself and plastered it over with annoyance.

Yonsu frowned. Damn. She'd though with Rael they were getting a look at what nobles were like when they weren't wearing that mask of elegance, but Rael might be the fakest person in that household. Cadis Etrama di Raizel was so damn powerful he had no idea how to act because he'd never _needed_ to know. Regis (that was what Tao and the others called him, first name basis with a _noble)_ had mouthed off to Cerberus by telling them the truth and making it clear how little he cared what they thought about it. Seira Loyard was more daunting – she couldn't have been selected as an ambassador without some ability to play social games… right?

But when they had to train so hard to hide their power in the face of the Union's overwhelming force, for the nobles to have such effortless confidence? She _envied_ them.

"Well, what _can_ you do?"

"Take cover, for one thing," Sangeen said, eyeing the remains of buildings not far away. "Even if they can break through walls, that'll make noise and let us know they're coming."

Rael was what, five hundred? It was hilarious that this seemed to be some new concept to him that he had to think about. "If you can't be faster, you can make the Union scum slower… A Kertia wouldn't be so noisy, but going around obstacles would make it take _slightly_ longer to reach you, so you'd still have a little more time to start reacting."

"That's why Tao and I fight from a distance," Takeo said. "In the time it takes them to reach us, we can move elsewhere. Especially with M-21 and Regis slowing them down."

"Injuring the enemy will slow them, and inflicting more wounds for them to heal makes it take longer for them to heal the important injuries. The pain of healing wounds will also slow their thoughts – the clan members are trained to strike without warning and wound the enemy, then make sure they remain off-balance for the entire battle so it's harder for them to figure out where the aura is strongest. If the enemy hasn't trained seriously, then being injured for the first time will also make them foolish. Like what Regis does, by being so talkative." Rael tossed the rocks in his hands up and caught them idly – it seemed like something he was used to doing with his knives when he had energy to burn off, even though a human who treated knives that lightly would get their tendons permanently damaged, too damaged to fight with a knife again. "You have knives, but your aura is weak, and you have a gun, but that won't even scratch a real enemy deeply enough to distract them."

Sangeen nodded. "We took a big risk getting experimented on, but when Cerberus attacked we weren't anything but a burden."

"I was unconscious," Takeo said, "but that's not what I heard from Regis." He smiled at Yonsu.

"Regis!" Rael realized. "He can make himself useful and teach you how to gather power! And that means… No, I'll still have to deal with you." He glared at Yonsu as though she _wanted_ to be in his hair. "You still wouldn't survive long enough to gather power and land the blow, not like _this_. You'll have to learn that too," he told Takeo. "It will be more useful for you, because you might be able to freeze the enemy long enough for the bullet to hit them. Especially with those bullets of yours making them less able to dodge. A _little_." Barely anything from that eye roll, but something. " _Your_ bullets are useless," he told Yonsu, and it wasn't even an insult. "So they won't expect them to suddenly _not_ be useless."

"Union agents enjoy… Union agents _need_ to show off how invincible they are, or they're disposed of," Takeo said grimly. "If they think you're reaching for the gun because you're desperate, they might _want_ the bullets to hit, so they can gloat."

Using the Union's own arrogance and sadism to lesser beings to kill them… A slow, vicious smile spread across Yonsu's face.

Rael noticed her smirk and rolled his eyes. "Landegre are so convinced everything should be _their_ way and anything else is inelegant. It's annoying, but they can't help it when it's how their power works." He turned to Takeo. "You're less annoying, so that enhanced human will be better at it than you, but she'll still be less powerful."

Takeo looked like this was new to him, and curious, so Rael kept talking. "There were traitor clan leaders and _Ignes_ out there, so I helped Brother with the Central Order Knights, not just the Kertia. So they knew what it was like to fight a pureblood. That's why I knew I had to work so hard to beat sense into Regis – if you cut a Landegre, it didn't distract them, they just get even more focused on defeating you unless you injure them enough they can't think straight. They were all stubborn like that."

Were.

Before a clan – two clans – of nobles were massacred by the Union, leaving only a handful of survivors. Just like what they'd threatened to do to South Korea – what they _had_ done to people who wouldn't obey – and only the citizens who were out of the country at the time would have survived. As a warning.

And all the other countries would have blamed it on North Korea. Because they _wouldn't have a choice_ either. They had to protect their people, for as long as they could, from those _bastards_.

"When can I start that training?" she asked.

"Do we need to go through Lukedonia's ambassador?" Thank goodness Sangeen at least remembered how to be diplomatic.

"All these humans bothering Miss Seira…"

Takeo winced, but was back to a smile before Rael turned around and might have had his face in view – not that they had data on noble senses. If Rael expected them to be able to find _some_ way to sense incoming threats even without psychic abilities, that implied that there were multiple possible methods.

"I'll ask Regis," Takeo told them. "And let Miss Seira and the Chairman know."

"That's good," Sangeen said. "After what happened," when they tested the candidates, "he might not be willing to let us train with one of his students. Will he accept some kind of promise to do our best to be sure Regis doesn't get injured during the training?"

Rael laughed. "You, injure Regis? Even if you did, he'd never admit it."

" _Cerberus_ injured him," Yonsu couldn't stop herself from saying. "Are we that pathetic?"

"Regis is a _child_. Injuring him is inelegant, but if he's training you then you'd _better_ learn how to injure him, when _I'll_ also be training you. He just won't admit you hurt him so you don't hold back because of him."

"Regis and M-21 are the kind to insist that they're fine when they're about to fall over unconscious," Takeo agreed. "But you can't hold back with either of them. M-21 was graded for disposal, and it still bothers him."

Someone as weak as them going easy on him? Yeah, that might set that off. "Alright, we won't hold back if he's part of our training." Yonsu wanted a rematch, even knowing she still wouldn't be able to push him anywhere near his limit. Maybe she was a masochist.

They might not be able to get enhancement technology out of these people – _yet –_ but knowledge of how to train modified humans to use their powers effectively? And also how noble powers worked? That would definitely be a big help to the KSA.

If their country survived long enough to make more modified humans and train them, anyway. Right now, there wasn't much difference between Yonsu and Sangeen and regular agents – not enough difference to _matter_ , anyway. Was there any way to change that before the war started?

There had to be. She couldn't give up. For her country, for her murdered comrades, for her husband, for herself and her pride as a human. "The Union… We aren't letting them take us down without a fight."

Rael snorted and Takeo frowned at him, disappointed. She could practically hear the, 'Be nice,' but they all knew it was a joke. For now.

"What else?" She wanted to know. "I know you won't share human modification technology when the Union might get their hands on it, but is there anything else? Any more training, allies, anything?"

"You humans, always wanting more power."

Takeo took a breath. "Rael, when we get home, I should show you how showers work."

"Why would I want to know what you humans do with your bodies?" Ew!

"What most of us, even enhanced humans, _have_ to do in order to stay clean," Takeo explained. "More than that – some people's bodies will kill them. Something goes wrong, and they might not even know until it's too late. It's easy – too easy – for us to die powerlessly, Rael. The Union wants power because they're greedy, but some of us need power because otherwise, everything we want to protect will be destroyed. Doesn't your brother train all the time because Lukedonia and the Kertia are counting on him? Yonsu and Sangeen are the strongest KSA members. They're not in charge like your brother, but they still have a responsibility to their comrades and this country."

She didn't want to be a life lesson for some five-hundred-year-old manchild… but if she could get power out of it, then it was worth it. Whatever it took.

"What do you want me to do?" Rael asked Takeo. "I'm already _training_ these humans. What else should I do, make contracts with them?" _Ridiculous_ his expression said at first, but then he seemed to realize what he'd just said and looked scandalized.

"Contract?" Yonsu asked. That was the word Raizel had used for his relationship with Frankenstein.

Rael went red, embarrassment and anger. "How dare you, asking something like that! You humans… all you want is contracts! That Shinwoo, taking advantage of Miss Seira…"

Shinwoo Han? Taking advantage of Lukedonia's ambassador how?

"It isn't as though he was trying to get Miss Seira to make a contract with him," Takeo said, trying to be peacemaker again.

What? "A contract? Like the Chairman?" Yonsu frowned. The nobles might be allies against the Union, but they'd done what to a Korean citizen? They'd had enough of having their people experimented on by the Union _thank you very much._

"It was an accident," Takeo said, but he frowned and looked down, worried.

Yonsu reared back, outraged. "You can make a contract with a noble by _accident?"_ And they weren't doing anything to prevent it? What kind of irresponsible.

"It happens when blood is exchanged and both parties want a contract," Takeo said. "The true contracts at least, the contracts the traitor nobles made were different."

"Don't look at me, as though I'd know anything about that," Rael said, folding his arms. "Disgusting…" Then he winced. "Even Frankenstein tried to trick Cadis Etrama di Raizel into making a contract with him with blood in the tea. If the Noblesse permitted it than it's his business, but you humans, always trying to get power out of nobles… The way you keep trying to calm me down." He glared at Takeo warningly.

"So much for a normal life," Yonsu said. When Sangeen's eyes widened and he tried to signal her to stop she ignored it – better to interrupt this conversation. If Takeo was calming down the noble brat she didn't want Rael to guilt him into stopping. "And you got angry at us for trying to recruit Shinwoo and Ikhan for the sake of our country because they couldn't have gone back to being normal people, and then let him make a contract?" Not that she had much idea of what that meant aside from stories. Was a Korean citizen calling Lukedonia's ambassador Master now? "What's it doing to him?"

"He seems fine," Takeo said, frowning at some unimportant point in space, worried, "but they're making sure. True contracts happened all the time, once, but the Chairman was already a modified… enhanced human when he made his contract, so there hasn't been a true contract with an unenhanced human in thousands of years. You're right – even before this, you weren't the only threat to those kids having a normal life…"

"Who would want a normal human life?" Rael interrupted. "They're short and noisy and you're the one saying that you can't blame humans for being inelegant when they don't have a chance. As for you!" He turned on Yonsu, as she blinked, processing that he might have just done that to comfort Takeo, "Don't act as though this is the same thing! If he joined you, he would have just died uselessly against the Union, so protecting him from that isn't the same thing at all as failing to keep that human from getting to do things to Miss Seira… What if he's doing _that_ with her! She's only two hundred and seventeen!"

"It's the KSA's duty to intervene between Korean citizens and…" Yonsu paused. If she'd said 'the Union' it would have been a massive insult to these people. The supernatural? "Nonhuman affairs. Tell the Chairman he'd better let us see Shinwoo Han and confirm he's safe."

"And what could _you_ do about it if he's not?" Rael looked disgusted.

"We at least have to try, it's our duty to our country! Even if we just get killed, there's no way in hell I'd just stand back and let the Union do what it wants to our people like they have the right to kill them just because they can!"

Rael scowled viciously but when she glanced at Takeo she saw… a small smile?

"I suppose even humans aren't incapable of being…" Rael turned and glared at Takeo, who couldn't seem to help just smiling outright now. "If they're not terrible then they still have to stop being useless. Why do you want me to do this? Let the Chairman do it, he was the one saying humans should get strength from humans wasn't he?"

"This is supposed to be your training," Takeo reminded him. "We don't have any Kertia here for you to protect, so…" He glanced at the KSA agents.

Rael twitched but looked down and to the side. "I suppose they're not terrible. I'm not making contracts with them."

"Damn right he's not – we're top secret and he's from another country," even if you ignored species.

That made the noble nod, equal parts approving and prissy. "I know how to train Central Order Knights, but even the ones who weren't Kertia at least started out with _some_ ability to sense the obvious. I don't know how to get these humans to where I can train them."

"I'll ask the Chairman," Takeo said.

"Don't do _that,_ you just said this is my training. And isn't this an assignment for you as well? Don't waste Cadis Etrama di Raizel's bonded's time when _you've_ been given a mission. You're supposed to learn to sense things and teach other people to sense them, aren't you? They're humans – _you_ do it."

Takeo's eyes widened in surprise as he nodded, acknowledging that Rael had a point.

Yeah, Yonsu had already known Rael long enough to know that _was_ surprising.

* * *

 _I suppose chapters like this are my fault for giving Rael a character arc. It feels like a mess, but it had to be one because of the dramatis personae – Rael is a bundle of issues, Takeo is nice but doesn't have Tao's social skills. Sangeen could be moderator as the reasonable one present, but he doesn't have that much ability to control Yonsu and he's an agent, he can't pass up any good intel that may come from Yonsu pushing them and getting them to reveal things._

 _This is also Takeo's arc – because of course there's be a plot to make sure he's happy too – and getting to see humans and nobles interacting and perhaps becoming comrades without it going perfectly and the humans adoring the noble. In the novelization and Noblesse S there are even more indications that yes, it is still instinct for humans to worship nobles despite the separation of the species, but nobles can avoid that by shielding/keeping humans from detecting their auras. Since in this 'verse Sangeen and Yonsu can't sense auras at all, both the author and Frankenstein are interested in exploring how this works out._


	26. Terms And Unconditional

Frankenstein did not wear masks. He was not a liar. He had different facets, and showed whichever was appropriate. Sometimes that meant using his hatred at those who harmed the innocent to conceal his love for the humans, but that was born of his will to protect.

His soul was bright and honest.

As Noblesse, Raizel had to investigate the one who carried something like a blood crystal and something like a soul weapon. When those souls screamed and whispered their hatred of the one who bore them, he had expected to find someone who thought they had the right to the lives and souls of others.

But… no?

The opposite?

Raizel had retreated in utter befuddlement, utterly unable to deal with this person who claimed to belong here? In the Noblesse's manor? When no, he was not someone in need of judgment? Also that glorious soul was wearing Raizel's shirt? Raizel's shirt was one of the very few things he had, how could this person be possessed of such virtue, such a radiant will to protect, while he was surrounded by angry ghosts and stole people's shirts?

When the human found him this time, Raizel was still so off-balance that he had pried, not only about why the human wasn't giving Raizel back his shirt, but why the souls were so angry?

That just made new questions: why did someone so bright have no shirts? And no place to belong? Raizel had a place to belong, and he…

Then Gejutel and Ragar arrived, and someone not wanting to visit that Lord was the first easy to understand thing that night. The human had said he worked here, and his soul was too honest to lie, not a _true_ lie, so Raizel had told them this. Because if Frankenstein thought the manor was a place where he belonged, where he could work, then Raizel agreed.

The human gave him his name afterwards, trying to get Raizel's name out of him, and it was his if he wanted it. He wanted an explanation more, Rai could read that easily, but there _was_ no explanation for Frankenstein.

Perhaps he had liked it a bit, that the human was even a bit as confused as he was. That he had become something strange and therefore interesting, instead of 'a noble,' when to Frankenstein 'noble' meant 'criminals and those who harbor them.'

Frankenstein was very right to say that Raizel's manor was where he worked.

Frankenstein's work then was stopping the criminals and their abuse of the humans. And Raizel called those criminals under his roof again and again, hoping and fearing each time that they might have slipped, that he could and must execute them instead of watching them leave him behind again, him to loneliness and them to the further mutilation of their souls. He hoped and feared that Frankenstein would realize he had work to do in the manor far more important than Raizel's tea.

For ten years, Frankenstein watched them, just like he did. Watching and waiting for the information he needed to execute the criminals, and Raizel ached that this bright soul was so like him. The Lord tried to tell him that he should not be Noblesse, that a Noblesse was not necessary, but Raizel knew that could not be true, not when the humans were forced to create a Noblesse of their own, who paid in the agony of that shining soul instead of its decay.

After Raizel's question revealed that he could sense Dark Spear, Frankenstein increased his shields and Rai did not look past them again, because Frankenstein had already been judged. It wasn't that he lowered them, as time went on. Raizel knew that humans were talkative, and there was nothing wrong with that when they did not have the power to force their words into another's mind and replace that person's thoughts. Frankenstein had the power to do that, and yet he did not. Unless he chose to speak deliberately, just as if he was speaking aloud – although he never did, not until the contract was made – Frankenstein's talkativeness was like that of the other strong, bright human Raizel had met. The child Yuni, who forced Raizel to go away from where his duty was because of the strength of her will to protect him, and then gone back to protect a warrior.

Ripples of busy happiness as he made tea. Firm satisfaction when he had something in the manor just the way he liked it. Sparkling bright taps falling as quick as raindrops as ideas came to him while he researched.

Raizel _felt_ Frankenstein, but Frankenstein never hurt him.

Impossible for Ragar not to know that they were friends when Frankenstein would grab him as soon as he saw him, the pressure of fingertips pulling him close, the sensation of being held around the shoulders when Frankenstein wanted him to stay because Frankenstein was enjoying playing with him, the push and tug against his aura when they fought, not true assaults on his mind but play-fighting.

For the humans, it had been a long time since the nobles left them, but humans were still humans. They might be changing, enhancing themselves, but Frankenstein could not in any way be called inhuman. The Lord's plan had worked, if one called 'they're perfectly capable of taking care of it themselves' a plan, and Raizel had really hoped he wouldn't be summoned to visit the Lord. He was going to be insufferable. Also now that the human matter was well in hand, or 'Frankenstein's problem' instead of the Lord's, he would be free to devote more attention to Raizel.

It wasn't quite enough to make Raizel wish that Frankenstein hadn't come, or had waited and given Raizel a few more millennia of relative peace and quiet. Even if Frankenstein's appearance meant that humans would very, very soon no longer be those in need of protection and that meant the next stage of that Lord's plan would begin.

The one that required his eternal sleep.

Raizel had hoped, that when he woke up eight hundred twenty years later and the humans were not immortal and Frankenstein was forced to hide that the Lord had decided the time was not yet, that he still needed to be awake to terrorize those who might wish to abuse humans with catching them in things the Noblesse could not punish.

But no. He was in eternal sleep, with both humans and noble children surrounded by traitors to all three species, the power they needed to survive held just out of their reach. No. The power they needed to protect their people held just out of reach.

Just as that Lord had planned.

He'd gone to Raizel, for Raizel to see his plans, almost hoping that he _had_ lost sight of the value of lives that were not his to spend, that Raizel could send him into eternal sleep. …When sending him to eternal sleep would do nothing but accelerate those plans, with the children even younger and less wise, less able to resist the wills of their elders. Because a Lord was a Lord: he had to do what would bring the best future for the nobles, whether he wished it or not, and a plan even a Noblesse could stop so easily was not a plan worthy of a Lord's consideration.

That was what it was to have not a name, but a function. Raizel had never had a name of his own until the children called him Rai: he and his brother were both the Noblesse, the Supreme Judge of the Flower of the Nobility, and it was from the separation of their function into two functions that they began to be separate. Still Judges, but they weighed different things in their scales and found them wanting.

Humanity, from which blossomed such noble flowers as Yuni, Frankenstein, Shinwoo.

His own brother.

That Lord remembered once having a name of his own, had started as an individual so that he could learn what existence was like for the nobles and make better plans for them. Then to fulfill the purpose he was made for, he had to put aside that name, that person: those memories were now not the sum of him, but nothing but data for the true purpose for which he lived and in the end slept.

Raskreia was a Lord, he did not need to be Noblesse to see that. There was no older and wiser Lord manipulating her steps, ensuring that she did not plan against the nobles before it was time for her to put herself aside and become her duty. It was still her purpose to be Erga Kinesis di Raskreia as well as Lord, and do what suited Erga Kinesis di Raskreia.

An unbound Lord was a threat to the nobles fit to drive his brother even madder with terror.

Raizel was growing increasingly concerned with what would happen when his soul was finally snuffed out, and the new Noblesse born from the last embers of his lost soul woke up to see the chaos the Previous Lord unleashed because in this danger he saw priceless opportunity and the Lords _must_ find the path to the best future for the nobles.

Perhaps that Noblesse might be somewhat relieved that Raskreia had the option of rejecting plans that were too inelegant.

Perhaps they might decide that his brother had the right of it, and Raizel was a failed experiment, a defective product of the greatest weapon of the nobles. What use was a sword that did not wish to kill?

Frankenstein did not wish to kill either, and oh how he _shone_ , the first time Raizel saw him. Oh how he _sang_ when their souls were joined and he no longer confined himself to brushing against Raizel's skin, the friendly greetings of the old humans, how they liked to keep everyone aware of how they were doing so they didn't worry (or knew to worry, because humans often needed worrying about).

Humans were still humans, even if their minds were also much like a bird's: that was what he had thought, seeing Takeo perch on the couch pleased that Raizel and Seira were calm-and-pleased, Tao, Regis and Frankenstein were enjoying-stalking-prey. But of course that wasn't enough, not when Rael's feathers were ruffled – Rael had never grown out of keeping his parent appraised of his emotions so his parent could take care of him, had he? – and Takeo had to learn how to preen Rael until Rael had enough attention that he could settle down, because that was what humans did. Even modified humans that had bird put in, maybe to make them more biddable? It wasn't going to work when there was human in there.

There were often birds in Raizel's window. Right now Shinwoo was displaying his pretty feathers and singing, 'Look at me! Look at me!' and Seira was very pleased because she wanted people to watch over and Shinwoo's soul was lovely and shone with the will to protect. He was very nice to watch, Rai liked watching him too.

Unlike Shinwoo, Rael needed constant preening and praise. That was good for Takeo because he enjoyed fussing over people who needed help, but it would have been unhealthy for Seira to do that. Otherwise she might have tried to make children already, for her clan, and become so tired she fell into eternal sleep. Raizel had been concerned she was only putting off trying until Regis was safely adult, but now that the household's children were also hers to look after he did not see a need to worry. By the time M-21 and the others were grown up, Seira would be as old as her parent was when Seira was made.

Right now, the two of them are playing together. That's the safest way for Shinwoo to learn, because all their power comes from their souls, and their souls know each other and won't hurt each other.

The children… they weren't supposed to control their powers with their wills. Of course the Union wouldn't give power to the wills and souls they sought to destroy. M-21 and the other children except Regis can hurt people by accident, even the people they love. Just like any other human except Frankenstein. Even poor Franken still has to worry that Dark Spear will hurt them if he isn't careful. Franken seems determined to pet them all enough to make up for it.

It was a bit overwhelming when they Bonded. Frankenstein is a very loving person, and for a long time he could not love anyone without putting them in danger. He might not need food or water anymore but Frankenstein was still human enough to have _needs_ the way nobles did not.

The drama called it the honeymoon period: it was normal for a human to rejoice when they found someone who would accept them and their soul, so Raizel didn't mind how Frankenstein's soul dreamily clung to his right after the contract was made, although he could have done without the kneeling. But for it to continue even after Frankenstein's soul had absorbed that the contract was real, that he was no longer alone with those who hated him? Raizel could not enjoy the deluge of Frankenstein's pent-up need to be affectionate. Not when it was a _need_ , and Frankenstein should not have been so deprived in the first place. It upset Raizel. It was only when the pressure eased, when he stopped being drowned in adoring gratitude (when he had not made the contract for Frankenstein's gratitude, but for _Frankenstein)_ that Raizel stopped feeling like a piece of unappetizing carrion found by a starving animal.

Not something they would want to eat, something that might make them sicken and die, but they would have to choke it down regardless because they _needed_.

But Raizel let Frankenstein kneel and call him Master, because it seemed to be what would content him, and eventually Frankenstein ceased to be so desperate, his soul grew sleek and sated and somehow even more glorious in its contentment than its desperate, heroic striving to protect humanity even as he died inside.

Frankenstein did not react to touch the way most humans did, so that human desire to be held and to hold others precious showed in how he took children in to care for them, to hold them safe, and how his soul was always checking up on everyone near even though he now had more than just Raizel who accepted his love.

The excited flaring and fluttering of Shinwoo's soul was a still-bright contrast. Shinwoo fought bullies and cowards, so while he did not quite show off, he knew that showing strength would end a fight earlier. He also wished to impress Seira.

It reminded Raizel somewhat of Frankenstein and Ragar's play-fighting, not at first but after Frankenstein had Bonded and relaxed enough to make a little less pretense of viciousness. Yet it was far more energetic, because this wasn't friendship that pleased Raizel all the more for how it was rusty on Frankenstein's side and unpracticed on Ragar's – it was simply Frankenstein's nature to help children learn, even among his enemies.

Shinwoo's aura flared, brightness fit to match the grin on his face. But it wasn't a threat display, not something meant to drive away but lure towards. 'Look how amazing I think you are! Look at me and think I'm amazing too!'

Seira had already given Shinwoo the power of a contract, and still he strove to win her, because the power was simply a means to protect more important things. Like Seira.

A very responsible child, Seira was focused on the practice. Shinwoo was one of hers to look after now, and he would be safer once he had trained, so. Training him was very important clan leader practice, and being a responsible clan leader Seira would spend a lot of time with him. It was her duty to care for him, she wasn't doing it for gratitude and he certainly didn't need to think it was amazing or special.

The way giving Frankenstein a place was not amazing or special at all. Even the traitors to humanity wanted to give Frankenstein a place, to the point Frankenstein should have been sick of it. Many humans wished to give him a place, have him stay with them, but he could not let them because of the criminals.

It was almost vexing that Frankenstein thought Raizel had done anything for him. No, it was vexing, no almost about it. Frankenstein was often vexing. He had spent a long time getting very good at shaking people up.

But Frankenstein was too unselfish to ever do anything just for the purpose of making himself happy, so that was something Rai could do for him, let Frankenstein spoil him by making dinners and gardens and give Frankenstein an order to take a break from his research when Frankenstein was contemplating doing something drastic to himself because he needed more power. Raizel was very glad he'd forbidden Frankenstein from terrifying people before he twisted himself into a nonhuman form, after seeing how ridiculous the Union elders were. People might not respect Frankenstein if he ended up like Roctis' Bonded.

It would have bothered Frankenstein to be inelegant, made him think that he was going along with the idea that humans were weak by even _transforming_ into a non-human form for strength, but he would have done it to protect people. It would still have never stopped bothering him, and when Frankenstein was bothered Rai was bothered, so he did have the right to intervene and seal Frankenstein's research on his honor. That way, he knew that Frankenstein wouldn't do anything he didn't think was important enough to explain it to a disappointed Raizel later.

Frankenstein wouldn't have let himself found a school if it wasn't for someone. Knowing that Ye Ran existed, that Frankenstein was in a place where he smiled so much and met people like Shinwoo, and it was because of Raizel… Frankenstein didn't spoil him because he wanted Raizel to be grateful, but Raizel did want to spoil him back.

Watching his students play with each other, learning the skills that would let them be safe but not being hurt or afraid… Yes, Raizel thought he had succeeded in spoiling Frankenstein for the day, although he still needed to drink the tea and enjoy the ramen and get more of the little pictures for his cellphone.

Enjoying the modern world kept him very busy, but it was certainly worth it for Frankenstein's sake.

* * *

"What are the terms of your contract?" the chairman asked while they were taking a break.

Shinwoo knew this one from civics! A contract was when two or more parties entered into obligations to each other. That meant for this to be a contract, there should be something he needed to do for Seira, and something she needed to do for him. "Seira was worried I wasn't getting enough sleep, so I promised to try to sleep more at night so she didn't have to worry." She was getting worried that he might get so tired he decided to sleep until the end of time and she never got to see him again. He was pretty sure it didn't work that way for humans, but some people online talked like that around exam season, so tired and worried about what was happening in the morning that they never wanted to wake up. "I couldn't sleep because I was worried about everybody, so Seira promised to help me get stronger and protect everyone."

Seira nodded in agreement, and he could feel how pleased she was with his priorities. How right and proper they were to her, _he_ was, instead of violent or wasting his life on martial arts.

He'd had friends who accepted him for years, but now he could _feel_ that someone thought he was doing the right thing. It wasn't enough for someone to 'like him just the way he was' when _Shinwoo_ wasn't satisfied with only the way he was. He wanted to do better, get stronger, do something about his grades and how he was always late and letting down Mr. Park. And Seira was certain that he could do better, that he _would_ , and that would make it so much easier to put his whole heart into trying.

The chairman was smiling at them dotingly, before he realized it and covered his mouth with a hand, pulling himself together and taking on a more authoritative expression.

"What about you two?" Shinwoo asked Rai and the chairman, at least partially because he wanted to see the chairman look that happy again. Maybe both of them. He'd heard that people in love were supposed to want to set up other people? And he totally got that, because he was just so happy, and this was the kind of happiness he wanted for his friends.

"I wished to stay by Master's side, and make him happy. I wanted him to keep me by his side."

Rai sighed. "To force Frankenstein to stay if his duty to humanity called him from my side… that would go against who he is." Rai couldn't agree to that, not to _hurting_ the Chairman like that. "Everything that is mine to give, is Frankenstein's." Everything that wasn't part of Rai's duty as the Noblesse?

Shinwoo and Seira looked at each other. "Everything?" Shinwoo asked, a little worried. Because that _sounded_ nice and all, but he was a Ye Ran student. That kind of absolute… either it wasn't really true, and Rai would feel bad about that, or it _was_ and the chairman would feel bad about it.

Rai nodded, a little color on his cheeks. "I would give my soul for the sake of Frankenstein's dream, but a world where humans are no longer victims cannot be achieved through a noble's effort."

Yeah: if humans needed a noble to die to save them, when Shinwoo didn't _want_ Rai to die, that would mean humans weren't strong enough yet. Strong enough to stop Rai from doing that, ideally.

Wait: why was Seira blushing? "How we enter eternal sleep is far more important than the length of time we spend awake," she told him.

That made Shinwoo's eyes widen, because he knew about 'death before dishonor' and everything, but that was humans _not wanting to die_ and deciding that the other thing was even more important.

Seira didn't want to die, but that was because she had a clan to restore and Regis to look after and classes she was taking. If she got cut in half by someone from the Union, she wouldn't be able to spend any more time with anyone (like Shinwoo, and the thought made his cheeks heat up all over again). No, no, eternal sleep would be just too inconvenient and bothersome to everyone else. Dying right now would be _rude_. Inelegant, even.

Shinwoo grabbed her protectively. She patted him on the cheek to let him know that she was aware he wanted her to stay awake and that was important to her.

"Frankenstein can use my power as he likes, but he refuses even though I would like to enter eternal sleep being of use to him." Rai didn't even bother to sigh: he seemed happy instead.

That the Chairman wasn't going to drain Rai like a battery? Nah, he could tell Rai really wouldn't mind that, because Rai. That the Chairman cared more about principles than power, or that he wasn't tempted by power because of… common sense, really. A human needing to use up all the Noblesse's power to get anything done wouldn't impress anyone about humanity.

He obviously wasn't going to do it. The way Rai obviously wasn't going to kill the Chairman with mind control. Both of them knew that, they weren't dumb.

Not that Shinwoo really thought of _his_ contract as Seira holding a knife to his throat either, even though she _could_ kill him whenever she wanted. It still seemed different that Rai could kill the Chairman, and the Chairman could kill him. But there wasn't any 'get him before he gets me,' it wasn't like a duel in the Wild West where the quickest draw lived. Or 'what if he gets worried I'm going to kill him and decides to kill me first, should I kill him before that happens?' They were both inside the other's guard, inside the other's soul, and liked it that way. Well, maybe not the other one being so vulnerable to them, they didn't like other people being in danger, but Rai said he wasn't in any danger of Frankenstein killing him and it was an old annoyance, like how it always took too long to get the shower the right temperature.

…and the Chairman wouldn't mind Rai eating all his soul if it meant that Rai would be okay. He was like that too.

That was like two people holding knives to each other's throats and being not just totally comfortable with it, but kind of miffed that the other person _wasn't_ cutting them open. Too sure the other wouldn't do it to even bothering to try to talk the other one into it anymore.

That was a good thing, Shinwoo was here because he didn't want anyone dying for anyone, but it was kind of over the top. Poor Rai, he did end up in ridiculous situations a lot.

"Humans are descended from countless generations of lifeforms that survived long enough to create children – and to raise those children, and pass on wisdom, later on. Nobles… haven't had enough generations for the difference between those who live longer and those who want more children and those with no interest in reproducing to have a significant effect on the population. Therefore, no survival and reproductive instincts. What wisdom _did_ they have to pass on," the chairman said, and then frowned at himself. "It's one thing to argue against the idea that nobles are an upper class, superior to humanity. When there's no social structure putting nobles on the top right now, it's wrong to spread the idea that another race is _inferior_. I need to watch what I say. Except to enemies, of course."

Seira agreed that, "Because Sir Gejutel did not enter eternal sleep, Sir Rousare did not have a complete soul weapon. He blames himself for Sir Rousare's forced eternal sleep, even though my parent had a complete soul weapon and it made no difference when there were innocent lives at stake."

Shinwoo made a face. "Wait, so… you're saying that Rael's dad might have really thought that the best thing he could do for his kids was," not _die_ , technically, but _as good as_. They didn't have a dad to look after them and encourage them, either way. Didn't have a mom, either.

He wondered for a moment if he could change the terms of their contract to Seira _not dying_ , except they were going to be fighting so she couldn't promise that. _He_ couldn't promise that either. If Seira did die, he didn't want her to feel guilty.

"Both of you have a strong will to protect," Rai said. "Shinwoo… what was important to _you?"_

To him and just him? Because Seira would have helped him get stronger even without the contract. Shinwoo looked to the side because it was about Seira, but then he glanced at her and she didn't seem to mind, so… "Seira's always putting everything else before how she feels. That's just as bad for her as not sleeping is for me, right?" It wasn't that Seira wasn't good at doing what she wanted – telling him the truth was one thing he was really grateful for.

Then there was the contract. "I want Seira to get angry when someone deserves it," instead of shoving it in a box to do something about whatever made her angry. It would be nice if Seira didn't have to worry about losing control, because he was there. He wanted his friends to be able to rely on him.

The Chairman looked surprised, but pleased. He gave Shinwoo an approving smile, and Shinwoo looked down at his feet sheepishly. "Feels kind of wrong to want someone to feel different, you know?"

"Not if you want her to value her own emotions, instead of feeling the way you want her to feel," the Chairman said. "I also have difficulty controlling my emotions: if I hadn't suppressed them for so long, I would have an easier time. I was hoping there was some way to train Miss Seira to still fight effectively when consumed by anger, but I wasn't sure if that was something I should interfere with."

"You both wished to be near each other," Seira said, brow narrowed slightly. "Both of you received the other's soul, but… that was not what you wanted. You wanted the other to grant their own wishes, not ignore them for the sake of yours."

What was the name of that story… "Gift of the Magi!" Shinwoo remembered. Having to write an essay on it last year helped. A guy sold his family watch to buy really nice ornaments for his wife's hair, and she cut her hair off and sold it to buy a chain for his watch. Shinwoo had thought it was totally worth it for the guy, because the woman's hair would grow back so she'd still get to wear the combs. Then again, the instant it grew back she'd probably sell it again to get back the watch.

He felt like that was missing the point of the story, though, which was probably 'don't sacrifice what's most important to you for someone else, it's not going to make them happy.' Because if something mattered to you, and they loved you, then it mattered to _them_.

Rai didn't know the story, but all of Shinwoo's friends were used to filling him in on stuff when he got that look now.

"Our contract… Is why I was able to return to Frankenstein's side," Rai said finally.

The Chairman's lips moved. He looked way too emotional to speak, so Shinwoo shut up to give him a minute. The light glinted off his eyes a little strangely, and Shinwoo looked away because the Chairman was still a private person, even if Shinwoo was in on a lot of the secrets now.

"Truly?" the Chairman managed to say after long enough Shinwoo was starting to feel a little restless, like he should do something.

Raizel nodded at Shinwoo. "Human souls gained the power to control noble energy. You have power over the soul of the Noblesse, and you use it for my sake. I ate the ramyeon because you were In distress, but I could not bring myself to burn it," Raizel… confessed?

Rai burning ramyeon sounded like a thing that would happen (you weren't supposed to wait extra time when you were cooking it any more than when you were eating it, but… Rai), but, "Eating it and _then_ burning it?" Oh, right, Shinwoo realized. He should probably shut up when he had no idea what was going and this was some kind of thing.

"…The charm?" the chairman guessed, and Rai nodded. "But you seemed fine."

"It is your nature to take care of others. It is the nature of your soul as well." Rai touched his chest. "I could not tell you then how I woke to find you because I did not know. It was your soul," he told Frankenstein. "Our contract bound my wounds. Just like the ramyeon."

"…I am glad, but you seem unhappy, Master."

"Humans shape their souls, but… you must not change who you are for me." Rai looked away. "I am questioning your decisions."

"I think that's part of your job," Frankenstein pointed out, with an arch look that made the statement half a joke. "I want it to be my nature to care for others. If my contract can keep you alive, let me be by your side… That is why I made it."

Rai stopped making so much of an effort to be dignified and reserved and went back to his normal level of elegance, which meant he was really relieved.

The chairman stepped closer, hovering anxiously. "But Master… Was the ramyeon not to your taste? I worked so hard to make it for you… I hope the main ingredient was to your liking?"

Seira looked mildly scandalized and Rai sighed, really wishing he was surprised.

Seira shook her head. "Sir Raizel does not dislike your soul." Then she blushed, and raised a hand to touch her cheek a moment later, frowning in puzzlement. Then she sighed, and gave Rai an apologetic look for her presumption in speaking for him.

Rai shook his head: no apology necessary. Then he paused, hesitating. Trying to find words, knowing Rai. He looked angry – no, _pissed off_ for a second, then pulled back from whatever it was, giving up.

"If it's not my soul, is it the concept of eating souls at all?"

Rai nodded, relieved.

"I am not harmed," Frankenstein promised him. "I was thinking of using the ability I got from our contract to burn my soul for power myself, if it came to it."

Seeing Rai's concern, Frankenstein smiled. "But I won't, now I have no margin for error. The charms mean you don't have to fear me burning my soul for power and breaking something."

A small nod from Rai, and his right hand shifted to cover the charm bracelet, as if he wanted to keep Frankenstein from taking it back and using it.

The chairman gazed at him dotingly.

Rai was like Yuna, Shinwoo thought, nodding. Really sweet, doing her best to do nice things for people even though stuff was hard for them and they were afraid of messing up and you just wanted to protect them and make sure no one took advantage of them. The chairman liked looking after people, and he didn't have a whole school back then, just Rai, so it was good that Rai needed a lot of looking after. Shinwoo wanted to help the Chairman look after Rai, after all the times they rescued him and the others. He was really glad Seira was here to help out, too.

He still didn't know what to tell everybody about Rai and the Chairman. There was no way they were making a contract with anyone else. He'd invited Rai and Regis to the meet-up with the girls from the other school, but even though Regis was more than ninety-nine percent of the way to being an adult he couldn't seem to make up his mind if he was like seventeen, and only one year away from being an adult or like ten and wasn't even thinking about that stuff yet. He guessed that for nobles the years were kind of arbitrary? Not that he was going to say that to Seira, when she'd decided that two hundred and seventeen was totally an adult.

…was giving the exact year for nobles kind of like a human kid saying they were nine _and a half_ instead of just nine?

 _Not_ thinking that in Seira's direction, no way.

He wasn't even going to try to figure out how old Rai was in human years. Not that he was going to try to set Rai up with anybody. Rai wasn't going to start dating when he was probably _dying_. As for if he was dating the Chairman…

Well, Shinwoo could say one thing: they absolutely weren't _dating_. Dating was trying to get to know someone. Those two really knew each other. Shinwoo was dating Seira, though, and he would be for awhile, he was sure. There was a lot to get to know. The contract, though… that was its own thing. He and Seira would always be important to each other because of it, no matter what else happened. That was something he knew absolutely.

* * *

 _It's been awhile and I keep getting déjà vu re what I might or might not have covered in fic or notes… The fatigue has been acting up. I think the chapter is okay, but please point out anything jarring or any continuity errors… I'm sorry about not doing physical description and such, that's pretty counterintuitive for my brain to do and I decided I'd rather post the chapter than try to cudgel the brain into producing unshiny wordcount._

 _First time doing Rai pov in the fic, I hope it's ok. From a human perspective, Rai's got tons of hours in the day to just sit and drink tea, but compared to his previous life he probably is frantically busy/'there are not enough days in the year.'_

 _Rai can't tell Frankenstein about his brother and how someone wanted him to eat the human souls in the blood crystal (or that eating souls was a thing and his brother tried to wipe out the human race…) and it's because it's too hard for him, like telling Frankenstein about Muzaka._

 _It's stated that Rai's soul was too damaged to heal even before the Muzaka thing went down. If so, then why did Rai wake up? One theory is that someone patched him up and arranged for the coffin to end up near Frankenstein, but another possibility is that it was the contract – Rai's soul can't heal itself anymore. There's a point where Rai is very convinced that he's going to die right then, and you'd think he'd know his own soul and powers. I doubt an ordinary human soul would have enough power to keep a noble on life support, and Frankenstein might only have that capability because of how he's adjusted to survive and host Dark Spear._

 _I like the theory that Frankenstein's soul was using its ability to control noble souls/shape noble energy to shape Rai's soul into a form that was less broken, and when Rai was brought closer to Frankenstein it was able to draw on the bond for more soul to do more. Rai woke up in the same city as Frankenstein because it was being in the same city that made it possible for him to wake._

 _Humans are biological lifeforms that are able to generate a soul/quantum presence due to that 'I am.' There's no DNA for souls, so they can end up in all kinds of weird shapes/configurations. There has been a gradual development of more effective configurations, but that was because there's some communication between them even without nobles. A lot of the souls of Union victims are way too warped and damaged to sustain life after the destruction of the original personality, but humans are our brains, not our souls, so we can still live even if our souls are seriously wrecked._

 _Most modern human souls are set up either to get attention or reach out and press against others' souls regardless of personality because of the limited ability to communicate with each other – not having soul contact leads to more anxiety, etc, so a lot of souls have been 'trained' into configurations that work better for obtaining contact. When psychic contact is easier to obtain, then you'd see more things like introverts growing shielding so they can get only the contact they want, etc._


	27. R&R

_I wrote this like months ago even though it wasn't what was going to happen next in Bonded in order to write something. The file is labeled Ch. 28. However, it's been hard for me to write lately, so I'm hoping you won't mind too much if I post this out of order so you have some fluff to tide you over until I get the actual Ch. 26, which is currently short bits/notes on like half a dozen scenes, into shape. Or something resembling a named shape._

 _So yeah, this is a timeskip ahead until everyone's back from the island. It will first be posted posted as Ch. 26 and will later be moved to 28 or later, depending on how many chapters are between 25 and this._

* * *

Everyone usually dispersed after family dinner. For _some_ of them, it was the only free time in the day if the kids had come over that afternoon.

Raizel, unsleeping, remained in the living room, but Seira and Regis had studying to do and letters to write before bed. Tao had sat backwards on a chair in Seira's room once, leaning forward to watch her of-course-elegant calligraphy in Lukedonian.

Lukedonian was like English _but worse_. There were irregulars _everywhere_ , and it took him awhile to realize that they weren't even conjugations, they were whole different words. Lukedonian didn't have verbs – actions were a kind of 'thing' so they were treated like nouns, or sometimes adjectives – if someone was walking, then walking was a description, so it was an adjective. It was like someone had stuck bits and pieces of a hundred languages in a bag and which words got picked out of the bag depended on how good they sounded. To nobles.

All human languages had one of a few methods of grammar, Tao had figured out. You'd think little kids would have the worst grammar, but they seemed to know what the correct words were and had to be taught to use irregular verbs that didn't fit the pattern. He wouldn't be surprised if languages were instinct for humans. So he guessed it made sense that nobles wouldn't have that instinct?

He had chattered on about that, because Miss Seira was like _him_ and didn't mind that kind of thing – and also she was going to be an ambassadress and this might be good for her to know? And she said that it took her twenty years to learn how to talk. Tao had nodded when she confessed that she hadn't wanted to risk talking until she was fairly sure it would be elegant, so of _course_ she couldn't until she'd gotten a firm grasp of complete sentences and everything.

Babies chattered, because they needed to make sure their parents knew stuff? And also practice making the sounds. But it looked like even noble babies weren't noisy or talkative.

"Regis was made not long before I began to speak, so I was able to speak to him and advise him," she'd said, attention focused on her calligraphy like Rai's on his tea.

Aww, so she'd passed on what she'd learned about learning to speak to her little bro! "Didn't your powers help at all? Or hadn't they come in yet?" Maybe baby Seira's powers weren't strong enough to pick up languages from the minds of purebloods and clan leaders?

"I was able to use my power to match word to concept," she said. "Otherwise it would have taken much longer."

Seira and Regis got out of Ye Ran's language requirements by being fluent in everything – South Korea wasn't the first country they'd been to for Regis' coming of age, and Seira had hers before Regis' started.

The nibs of Seira's pens were lines instead of dots, so she could tilt them for different line thicknesses. Lukedonian symbols had a _ton_ of lines in them that changed thickness, and not just at the start and end of the lines. He'd copied the list of symbols she drew for him with a regular pen, and from the way she wrinkled her nose and wouldn't criticize that was horribly inelegant. It made Lukedonian take a _lot_ longer to write than Korean, and that was _with_ Seira's innate noble elegance of movement and near two hundred years of practice writing the mix of letters and symbols.

Because they were both? Tao had looked it up, and the first 'A' meant 'ox,' so he guessed it made sense that Lukedonian was like that when it came from when human writing was like that?

It was _interesting_. Nobles had language powers, so they were simultaneously better and worse at learning languages than humans – or not 'better or worse' just different. Now that Seira knew how languages worked she picked them up even faster than Tao, with access to a native speaker, but he wondered how she'd do with recordings of a dead language.

He had to leave after a couple of hours to get to his system and start coordinating Takeo and M-21's patrols, but he would have to do that again sometimes. That was the first time he'd gone to Miss Seira's room after dinner because he was worried about disturbing her.

Takeo cleaned his guns after dinner to prepare for patrol, and then he cleaned them again in the morning while M-21 was on patrol during first period, after everyone was safely in class and they'd done the initial sweeps of the school.

Tao had his babies to work on, of course, but he could do that while he was coordinating patrols. M-21 was usually doing some light training after dinner, because his powers were still developing and he didn't want to over- or underestimate his strength or speed, and he wasn't just worried about combat situations. The kids they protected at the school were so _fragile_.

Someday, maybe Boss' dream would come true (Tao really hoped so) and no one would have to be fragile, so easy for the Union to hurt anymore, but for now they _were_ , so it meant a lot that Boss had entrusted them with the school and the children there, lives so precious to him and his master.

The Union had taught Tao that he could never be free. Takeo had decided to serve a little sister who loved him, not the Union – that was why Tao had chosen Ikhan as a little brother, because he liked Ikhan and it was better to serve someone who cared if he lived or died than the Union. Now he had Boss! So it made perfect sense to him that Boss had a Master. Boss was a genius, so he'd done a really good job picking one out. _He_ would never hurt Boss, and he'd never let the Union have him, either. Rai cared so much about Boss, about all of them, that he'd _die_ to keep them from being hurt.

Tao _wanted_ one.

Rael had figured out (or been informed by Boss, who was good at knowing when to push and when to not) that after family dinner (after being forced into proximity with enhanced humans and having to be _talkative_ with them) was free time, so he either retreated into his room or left the house and Tao quickly lost track of him. That was a good thing – if _he_ couldn't track Rael the Kertia was probably safe out there – but he'd have to get a look at Rael's training as soon as he wore him down enough.

Not just because Rael was Boss' kid and thus One Of Them, one of the people that Boss was Responsible For, but then Boss felt responsible for _all_ enhanced humans and Tao was here first.

Tao stuck his tongue out at his console, pretty close to certain that Rael wasn't in Tao's room (he wouldn't inflict Tao on himself during free time) and wouldn't have any idea what it meant other than Tao doing more weird human things even if he _was_ in here.

No. 3 was probably still working through that last book Ikhan gave him. Because Ikhan helped him keep up with the classwork, he felt obligated to study whatever books and watch whatever videos Ikhan thought were educational. Tao was mostly staying out of it – _mostly_ – because he didn't want to scare off their No. 3, but he was reporting to Ikhan on the current status of Ikhan's plan to lure his fellow shortie to the Technical Side.

Boss was always busybusybusy unless it was his important Tea With Master time, which was an important high-priority part of Boss' schedule… And that was something, for peace and companionship and happiness to be seen as _important_. Not just Boss' happiness, but making someone else happy, just by being there.

"That's it!" Tao realized, sitting up in his chair and pushing back from his desk. He'd go down to the living room!

He flung himself down the stairs, landing carefully so he didn't make a thump on the floor even if it wouldn't shake anything important in the lab & went to join Rai. Rai was sitting there with a teacup being all peaceful (according to Takeo that was an actual thing and Tao should study it while he was down here).

Tao almost went into the kitchen to make himself, hmm, coffee or tea? In theory coffee would help him be awake for patrol monitoring, but he didn't really need the help. Tea would be better for replicating the experience Boss and Rai had here, so he could study it. Instead, he remembered Boss' punishment and went to lean over Rai's chair a little, standing where Rael stood.

When Rai put down his teacup and turned to look at him he asked, "I want to take a nap before patrol; can I sleep on you like Boss and Takeo?"

While Tao belatedly realized how close he'd come to saying 'sleep _with_ you' and sweated, _he_ nodded, lifted up his teacup and saucer and moved from his chair at the head of the coffee-and-tea table to the couch.

Plopping himself down next to Raizel, Tao wondered if he should rest his head on _his_ shoulder like Takeo or sleep with his head on _his_ lap like Boss and decided that Boss would know best what his Master liked.

So he lay down and was rewarded with a hand placed lightly on top of his head. It wasn't Raizel's tea-drinking hand, but he felt and heard the small signs that Raizel was tilting his head to watch him. It might have felt creepy, like he was being observed, or the hand could have felt like a sign of ownership, but instead he felt protected.

Tao knew how seriously (too seriously) Raizel took his duties; to have all of that focused on him?

He felt pleased and proud of himself and clever, but most of all he felt safe. He wasn't afraid of messing up and getting swatted by Raizel anymore (as long as he didn't like take over the world or anything, and Boss would definitely warn him before he did anything bad enough Raizel would have to do something), and how could anyone else possibly get to him with the strongest noble watching over him?

He wanted to savor the fact that he'd earned Raizel's love and protection, but he'd said he would sleep so he should probably take that nap. If Rael came back the noise'd wake him up so he didn't miss it; it'd be hilarious and a great chance to influence Rael, Tao thought smugly.

* * *

Frankenstein had tilted his head when he sensed Master attempting to hold on to his composure. Master's aura wasn't as solid as it used to be before his long sleep, but he felt the disorganized strands of leaked energy thicken and coalesce, glad it was a matter of Master exerting more control over the energy he'd already lost instead of him giving off more energy.

Despite the Previous Lord's and Frankenstein's attempts to shore up the equivalent of Master's skin so he stopped bleeding, _all_ nobles leaked energy. It was why it took a Kertia clan leader to go undetected, and even they still lost energy, they simply managed to conceal it. Such was physics, for the same reason human skin was warm to the touch.

He'd installed some measures into the house during his redecorating so that it would catch and hold Master's energy the way the manor had. In theory that should have at least minor beneficial effects… He shook his head and began closing down files, leaving a few simulations running. He could hazard a guess as to what this was, but he should check and see what the specifics were.

Tao, he saw when he reached the living room and sat down opposite the couch, the corner of his mouth tilting up at the sight of Master's particular expression. Of course Master was going to try desperately to project dignity and controlled elegance in this situation. Dignity and power were not unrelated for nobles… and dignity and control over one's power certainly let you use it more effectively.

If a guard was distracted, someone might be able to slip past them, and when Master had been entrusted with something precious?

He could see Master relax slightly now that Frankenstein was here and aware of the situation.

Tao so rarely let himself show vulnerability that wasn't covered with a joke, although from the way he was smiling in his sleep he was well aware of just how _in_ vulnerable to attack he was right now.

Frankenstein knew that feeling well. The happiness that he had found someone he could always rely on was not diminished by his knowledge that he must do his best not to rely on Raizel, both because he must prove that humans could defend themselves (because criminals attacked the weak) and because Raizel was sick, and that made it Frankenstein's duty to protect him.

Tao was a child, reduced to one by what was stripped from him, and that made it every right-thinking person's duty to protect him. Yet even when Tao was all too aware that he couldn't protect himself, he had still taken it upon himself to protect others. No wonder little Regis was unable to resist being dragooned into the Raizel Knights, when he was raised to value the will to protect.

Raizel shifted slightly, drawing attention to the fact that he had not sat next to the armrest, but left room on the other side of the couch from Tao, who had curled up into a little black and pale ball save for his head.

Frankenstein went and sat next to him. There was just enough space, even though if this was anyone else he would have felt there was far too little, pressed between Raizel's side and the armrest.

He leaned his head against Master's shoulder as Takeo had, and reached out his hand to place it on top of Master's where it lay on Tao's hair. He did it without quite thinking about it, because it seemed right, and it took him a moment to realize that he was entirely comfortable.

Of course he was, with Master here. A comfortable couch, a sheltering home, a full stomach, the delicate scent of sugar and tea in the air.

He curled against Master a little and closed his eyes, without fear of nightmares.

* * *

When Takeo came down, there was a little bit of color in Raizel's cheeks, despite the noble's best efforts. If he wasn't able to reach out, he would have thought Raizel was embarrassed to be seen like this, with enhanced humans using him as furniture.

" _It's an honor, isn't it?"_ Takeo said in his head because he didn't want to wake Tao. Takeo and M-21 split their shifts, each of them guarding the city for half the night unless there was trouble, but Tao was too prone to doing nothing but catnapping, insisting on being mission control for both of them. Takeo doubted Tao had even realized that the reason Regis was trying to learn about technology was so he would be competent to do it himself and tell Tao to get some sleep.

It would be easier for Takeo to learn how to do it, and he was weaker than Regis. It made more sense for their two front-line combatants to be out in the field, but Takeo was better at scouting than M-21 (and M-21 had some experience breaking into Union systems), and good luck getting him to stay safe at home while one of them was out there. The entire point was for them _not_ to get into solo fights. Regis wouldn't back down if he saw a Union agent killing humans, so Takeo didn't want him out there alone at night.

Raizel nodded solemnly, careful not to shift his shoulder and dislodge Frankenstein's golden head. Two of the most precious beings in existence entrusting themselves to him? Raizel's blush deepened.

Takeo smiled knowingly. Unlike Tao, he was never just Dr. Aris' assassin, a modified human created for a purpose, not much different from a robot as Tao had put it. He was Teira's big brother. He was _needed._

M-21 had needled at him that Takeo was only reacting so badly to the truth about his sister because he was angry at being tricked, but how would M-21 have felt, if his comrades were just Union plants, there to mess with him for the fun of it?

…The false M-24.

But he'd made Takeo realize that he still had a comrade… No, that _Tao_ still had a comrade. Tao the 'weak' one, who couldn't handle the front lines: he might be better at navigating this strange household than Takeo, but how would he feel, alone and helpless among people who all knew each other, nobles and a scientist?

Tao had other protectors, and other comrades in RK now, but in this place they protected each other.

Footsteps on the stairs – from the sound of them Takeo knew it was M-21 without looking up. M-21 had first patrol tonight – Takeo was on his way up to his room to get his sleep shift after doing some work in the machine shop in the basement when he went to check up on Raizel.

M-21 seemed to have the same idea, stopping there in the living room on the way out, shifting from foot to foot awkwardly. "…Sorry," he said to Rai, not meeting the noble's eyes, before Takeo could do more to ask than raise his eyebrows. "My comrades and I… so we'd know if they took anyone in the night." He glanced at the door and made for it, almost going outside without exchanging bunny slippers for shoes.

The comrades he slept beside… he'd lost them. Was it too soon to take that risk again, or was he afraid of losing them and Raizel the same way?

M-21 leaving in this state, when Tao wasn't on communications… Takeo bowed to Raizel. "I'll go with him, sir."

He received a nod, expression near-unreadable but he could somehow see, not just feel, the gratitude there.

Takeo caught up with M-21 near the school. M-21 looked fine, just grumpy. Takeo smiled, knowing by now that it was just protective camouflage. "You wanted him to know why you wouldn't be joining in, so he wouldn't think you were still nervous around him." And have _his_ feelings hurt.

The _him_ was Tao's idea, and while Takeo didn't normally use it, he understood the sentiment behind it and calling Frankenstein Boss.

It was a very bad idea to be overly familiar with one's superiors in the Union, but even so using Rai for Raizel felt… wrong. Takeo couldn't risk getting in the habit of calling Frankenstein by his real name, and using a fake name for any of them felt equally wrong.

M-21 nodded and relaxed a little, glad that was over with, before they moved on to the next roof. "How are we going to handle second shift?" They couldn't let Tao go out alone.

"Those two may go for a walk," which they did every so often. Usually it was Raizel's decision: he would stand up, make a one-sentence announcement to the room without looking at anyone and walk towards the door. Frankenstein would follow after him, watching him as he opened the door and walked out. If Raizel was human, he might want to stretch his legs after being stuck unmoving for as long as one of them remained sleeping. This time, Frankenstein might suggest it: he was the one who'd insisted they get as much sleep as they did, and Tao kept him informed of their patrol schedules.

Raizel liked to roofhop, wandering around the city in an irregular pattern that often headed towards the areas with the most light and activity, and Frankenstein had confirmed that when the two of them were out the rest of them really didn't need to patrol, but should stay and guard the house. Tao could keep watch through the cameras while M-21 and Takeo slept.

"If they don't, Tao might use the KSA," Takeo added ruefully. It was entirely Takeo's fault, but after Tao pried how much he'd talked with them out of Takeo he was a little miffed with them.

M-21 turned to stare at him when they landed. "They're too slow," he said, and jumped again before Takeo responded.

True. Tao had his camera network – it was M-21 and Takeo's speed and ability to hold an enemy in place for reinforcements (and if not, run and lure the enemy into position for Regis, Seira and Frankenstein) that made these patrols useful. That and their enhanced senses, but Yonsu and Sangeen were behind in that department as well.

"Sangeen's looking older," M-21 said when they reached the next usual stopping point. It wasn't good to have patterns, but Tao's were made to be broken in useful ways.

Takeo's eyes narrowed.

"I can smell it too." M-21 looked down off the edge of the roof. "I thought he was old, but he's aging too fast."

"Genetic decay. His genes are falling apart because of the modifications-"

" _I know what genetic decay is_ ," M-21 growled.

He was part of a numbered series. The Union's modifications went wrong often. Sangeen's wasn't an unusual fate, although usually a test subject would be destroyed the instant they showed the signs of a breakdown. It took a scientist like Crombel to be allowed to look less than perfect – his wrinkles were a badge of how valuable he was to the Union.

But why was M-21 telling him this, instead of Frankenstein? "You think Frankenstein already knows?"

"The last time he let someone at his tech, the Union happened. _We_ happened."

"Dark Spear," Takeo agreed, in part because he didn't want M-21 thinking that he was any part of the reason for Frankenstein not to share his technology. "Even if the KSA wants to keep our secrets, they're a government agency. If they receive legitimate orders from the government, they can't disobey just because they have trained agents." And enhanced humans.

"They put the kids in danger," M-21 said. "But he's her partner."

Husband. Comrade. Fellow test subject, when the KSA didn't even have the dregs of knowledge the rank-and-file Union scientists were allowed. In the Union Yonsu would have been allowed to live, be a low-ranked agent, but Sangeen? Would have been graded For Disposal, like M-21 and his comrade. To be killed. Or used up. And if she tried to protect him… the Union didn't like that. Takeo knew why now. It kept all of them divided and helpless. For Yonsu to show a Disposal a little human kindness would have been a _threat_ to the Union's power structure. That was why they were so vehement about stamping it out, treating it with contempt so everyone believed it was weakness instead of strength. The only thing that might let the Union's victims win against it.

"I'll ask Frankenstein," Takeo told him.

M-21 took off again, and a few roofs later there was something that might have been a 'Thanks,' blown back to him on the wind.

When they returned from patrol, Tao was still sleeping but Frankenstein was up, puttering around in the kitchen making a fresh pot of coffee. There was already a fresh pot of tea.

Rael was sitting next to Raizel. He was trying to appear composed, project noble elegance, but Takeo could see how aware he was that he was only a few centimeters from Cadis Etrama di Raizel. He looked like he might vibrate out of his seat if he wasn't weighed down with a cup of tea (…hopefully caffeine-free) and a plate of cookies.

According to Rael, he was far too old to sleep, unless he was wounded too severely for a noble's normal recovery to handle it. From his glances at Tao, the ones that were speculative instead of murderous, he might be considering asking Frankenstein for a spar.

"Ah, good," Frankenstein said, putting two teacups down on the table for them. "You're back. Uneventful, I hope?"

"M-21 can smell Sangeen's genes decaying." Takeo said, biting the bullet. Not literally, although he'd done _that_ too, not just to hold them for reloading but after too many 'friendly' spars or when denied anesthetic.

The scientist nodded, and Takeo's heart sank a little. He'd hoped that _Frankenstein_ had perhaps just been too busy to notice, instead of him choosing not to help someone. "Is he in immediate danger?"

M-21 shrugged, so militantly uncaring it had to be false. "I don't know that much about it."

"He was stable when I looked over the data," Frankenstein said, looking thoughtful as he poured the tea, "but the KSA went without a lab for some time, after he was in a battle with Cerberus. The strain, coupled with the lack of a normal human's level of psychic healing ability… yes, his condition could easily have decayed while his body was allowed to rely on what passes for enhanced healing." Among Union-derived enhanced humans. "Their doctor developed a retroviral therapy that was used to stabilize him before, but he wouldn't have been able to produce it without a working lab suitable for enhanced humans, or he may be hesitating to use it again in case it causes the situation to destabilize further."

That was a relief: Frankenstein hadn't done anything because the KSA was handling it before.

Frankenstein sighed. "They've already seen my lab." Not that he would ever dream of bringing up that Raizel was the one who let them in. "If he's not in immediate danger, I'd like some time to see if there's a way to fix the situation without doing anything that the Union would dissect him to get its hands on."

"He's an unregistered modified human," M-21 pointed out. "They'll take him apart and make it slow anyway, if they find out he's modified at all."

Frankenstein seemed a little taken aback for a moment before admitting, "True. I suppose I'm too used to anyone associated with me being in danger."

"He's already in danger." Not targeted for associating with Frankenstein. " _We_ were already in danger," said Takeo.

"Wha-Who's in danger?" Tao said, bolting upright.

"Sangeen's aging may be accelerating, but it's nothing to worry about as long as it's treated," Frankenstein reassured him. "…And I need to reconsider old habits."

"Such as sealing the children's memories," his Master agreed.

Frankenstein put a smile on his face, but he was clearly wincing inside, embarrassed.

"As humans grow older, they are less able to recover from injury, and their bodies are more likely to break down in fatal ways," Raizel said, and he probably knew that from Frankenstein telling him. "Frankenstein, you have my permission to aid him."

Frankenstein bowed. "Yes, Master."

Tao tilted his head. "Does he need your permission?"

"Frankenstein does not always ask, and I do not expect him to when there are lives at stake."

From Frankenstein's rueful expression, that was true.

"But I forbade him to experiment with power before I slept, because both humans and nobles were afraid of his power."

"Master was worried that if I grew much more powerful, I might end up as isolated as he was," Frankenstein supplied and Raizel nodded with relief. That Frankenstein understood? "Of course, I wanted to terrify evildoers."

"Did the sleep fog my memory, Frankenstein, or were not you willing to give me your blood to ensure I had the power to keep you if I wished for your company?"

"To remain by your side, Master," Frankenstein corrected him gently. His eyes were soft, too full of nostalgia to be at all chastised.

"You should not be alone, Frankenstein," Raizel persisted, still frowning.

"Not while you have me, Master." Frankenstein nodded as though he was agreeing, even though Takeo knew that wasn't what Raizel meant at all, and Frankenstein had to know it.

Raizel gave him a disappointed look, then gave up, turning back to his tea.

Takeo remembered the conversation they'd had after Takeo fell asleep on Raizel's shoulder. Raizel wanted Frankenstein to have friends, to not be alone, but Frankenstein wasn't going to imply that he would be alright if Raizel died, not when that might make Raizel relax and think it would be okay if he died.

Rael was stuck there unable to speak during all of that, too aware that he was sitting right next to Cadis Etrama di Raizel to make his usual comments. Frankenstein's eyes lit on him. "Ah, Rael. Would you mind taking the early morning patrol and stopping by the KSA to make inquiries? It's a secret that those two are enhanced, even from the Director for the sake of plausible deniability." Although he had to know after two KSA agents survived a battle involving Cerberus and a Union Elder.

"So that's why you're not just calling them," Rael said, standing almost with relief. Quickly, he bowed to the Noblesse and vanished.

Right, nobles didn't do public displays of affection. Sitting so close to someone he admired, especially with Tao there and Frankenstein watching, must have been nerve-wracking for Rael. It was one thing to attend the Noblesse, it was another to sit so close to him. Had Rael wondered if he was supposed to go to sleep too, even though adult nobles didn't just fall asleep?

Had he wanted to? If humans got to, it must have been vexing that he couldn't _because_ he was a pureblood noble.

"I'll get on communications and make sure he behaves," Tao said cheerfully, heading upstairs.

A wisp of disappointment escaped Raizel's aura. Was he sad that all the children were gone? But Takeo was still here. He frowned at Raizel, wishing that he would say that he wanted company. Any of them would be happy to do that for him. "I could stay in the living room, if you like."

Raizel shook his head. "According to Frankenstein, it is important that you have your own space."

A place that was his, where he felt safe? "I feel safe here," Takeo promised him.

The color on Raizel's cheeks darkened.

"Master is a little overwhelmed," Frankenstein said kindly, watching Raizel with a fond expression. "Thank you for the offer, but he could use a chance to restore his composure, especially when we'll have company soon."

Right, even if Sangeen was doing well, they couldn't pass up an offer like that. The chance for intel on the capabilities of someone who created enhanced humans capable of fighting Cerberus agents? "I'm sorry," Takeo said. "We keep imposing on your generosity." It was M-21's idea, the way he was the one to ask if Takeo and Tao could stay, but Takeo also wanted to help them.

Frankenstein chuckled, and Takeo had to laugh a little ruefully too, because he should know by now, after all.

* * *

 _Ah, so it seems this was going to start off the next plot bit as well as provide household fluff. Well, I can rearrange chapter order later so it flows nicely._

 _...Also my apologies that the next plot bit will involve Rael as well as M-21 and his issues. In my defense, Rael suffers hilariously and I'm not killing Rajak here so I'll have to make Rael suffer extra to make up for it?_


	28. Lollipop Guild

_This follows on from 'R &R,' the chapter about Tao napping on Raizel. I managed to write it, then I was 'really I should finish the island arc first,' but I haven't been able to write much for awhile and I wanted to post something to thank people for leaving reviews._

* * *

Refusing wasn't an option.

Sangeen already looked what, ten years older than Yonsu? Twenty? Even a well-preserved thirty. How long until he couldn't be out in public with his wife without looking like a creepy old man?

That wasn't why he couldn't refuse. A cure for cellular degeneration _existed?_ They'd have the chance to observe a scientist who could create something like that while he worked and report back? He had a duty to his country.

But maybe the personal reasons were why he'd let Yonsu head to the driver's side without even clearing his throat or making some other token attempt to remind her that this wasn't an emergency, they were in a city and not everyone had her modified reflexes.

He was a little surprised the noble who came to get them hadn't headed home over the rooftops right away after delivering the message, but maybe he'd been ordered to escort them? Rael hadn't demanded the front seat, either, and didn't seem to be sitting like Yonsu was his chauffer, a human servant to drive the noble around. Red eyes were looking out the window pointedly, whipcord-thin body tense and straightened up. The mask of arrogance was on, but he had the same little moue of displeasure he'd gotten when the training wasn't working because humans just didn't work the way he thought.

"What would I know about what you humans need?" he'd answered when Sangeen asked if he should grab an overnight bag or something. He kept one packed for missions, so he had grabbed it from his locker while Yonsu notified the director.

Arms folded, Rael looked prickly. Deliberately prickly, like a porcupine spreading its quills out not even because it was afraid of attack but because he didn't want anyone to get close while he was thinking about whatever had him so annoyed. He'd barely even glared at Yonsu and Sangeen when he delivered the message, and even that was a momentary 'why are you talking to me' glare instead of a 'Union scum' glare, the one that had started to dim in intensity as he got it through his head that they weren't Union.

Rael was one of the most teenage teenagers to ever teenage. _Over five hundred years old_ and he could still pass for a teenager. How long could nobles live? How long could enhanced humans live without the Union's planned obsolescence?

Sangeen took his eyes off Rael for one second as Yonsu parked and heard the door close, Rael already out of the car. He and Yonsu looked at each other, but they both already knew Yonsu would be writing the report on their observations of the nobles and enhanced humans. Sangeen would be doubly compromised after this.

Rael left the door open behind him: when they walked in he was bowing to Cadis Etrama di Raizel. "I have brought the humans your Bonded wanted."

The noble official gave him a nod of acknowledgement and Rael moved to stand beside his chair, glancing at the Chairman as he walked into the room as though he suspected that the Chairman would try to take that spot if Rael didn't grab it first.

"Ah," the Chairman said, sparkling at them. "As I said, the last time I let anyone at my techniques the Union happened, but giving you the ability to heal your cellular degeneration isn't very complicated. It's a technique the Union already has, but doesn't let the rank and file scientists know about. So if anything that would give them an incentive to terminate anyone who managed to examine you…" His expression turned calculating.

Raizel set down his teacup with a click. Rael practically teleported into the kitchen and back into the living room, already pouring the tea when Sangeen could see him again. Forget scuffing the floor, he had to be doing _something_ to prevent a sonic boom!

"Taking a Union researcher with me as the last thing I do? Sounds good to me," Sangeen said, and saw M-21 nod slightly out of the corner of his eye.

The enhanced human caught Sangeen glancing at him where he stood leaning against the wall and frowned, looking away.

"When can we get started?" Sangeen asked.

The Chairman smiled. "First, let's discuss how you'll pay for the treatment."

Yonsu tensed beside him.

"Experimental data is its own reward," the Chairman continued, "but this is a medical treatment, one I already know is effective on previously-enhanced humans. I don't have the time or inclination to take notes on you."

Not when they were so inferior to his own work. Yonsu had to be annoyed, but actually, Sangeen was relieved. He wouldn't be handing over South Korean defense secrets.

"I've already been repaid for your Director's surgery by his reorganization of the KSA. My students and most of their families live in this city, so planning how to evacuate them along with the other citizens repays the debt you owe Ye Ran and its alumni association." The ones who'd pulled the strings to get the KSA emergency funding and assistance from other departments. "As for curing your cellular degeneration… Takeo is the one who asked me."

"M-21 was concerned," Takeo said, smiling apologetically when his teammate gave him a betrayed look.

"You wouldn't be the first case he's seen, I'm sure." The chairman bared his teeth. "This has been known technology for a _thousand years_ and the Union has done its damndest to keep it from being used to _help_ humanity… I'm willing to give you this treatment because it's one I don't mind if your doctor reverse engineers. In fact, tell him, 'Please do,' if he can manage it. If he _can't_ figure it out despite what you're learning about the theory of power use from Takeo and Rael, then it's not something he should be messing around with after he shut off your natural psychic abilities. Although," he mused, "perhaps he was trying to focus your energies in order to allow you to manifest projections. He still should have checked what else you were doing with that energy. If your control wasn't so imperfect you would have lost half your natural healing factor, but that shouldn't be a problem after the treatment…"

That was when Sangeen noticed that Tao and Takeo were leaning away from the Chairman, sitting as far away from him on the couch as they could get. Why? It honestly had Sangeen puzzled, because they lived with the guy, and even Sangeen knew he could get a lot more terrifying than just _this_.

Seeing him raise an eyebrow, Takeo seemed to realize what he was doing and gave Sangeen an apologetic smile. His shoulder nudged Tao's as he straightened up.

Of course Frankenstein noticed. "These three were subjected to… no, I can't call them scientists, much less doctors. Union _mushrooms."_ The Chairman rolled his eyes. "Your doctor at the KSA still had all his brain cells."

Sangeen was in Intelligence: he knew _that_ joke. Mushrooms were kept in the dark and fed bullshit. Like all the people they couldn't tell about the threat of the Union, _or else_.

"So being in the lab won't bother them?" Tao blinked, smiled.

"Well, it _is_ Doctor Frankenstein's laboratory, after all those centuries of Union propaganda." The doctor's smile was fanged – not literally – amusement, not offense, thank goodness. Sangeen couldn't help tensing slightly at the name, and there was no way this guy hadn't caught it. "You can work things out with Takeo and M-21 yourselves. As for _my_ payment, there _is_ a little experiment I'd like you to help me with." _This_ smile was an 'innocent' one that seemed all the more 'innocent' for the fact it wasn't even _trying_ to hide that the doctor was Up To Something.

The fact that he was being honest about it instead of trying to actually deceive them (insulting them by thinking they'd fall for it, too), made him seem more trustworthy, because if he was actually going to harm them he'd hide it, but a ploy to appear trustworthy on that level was itself a warning sign, that this was someone who knew how to calibrate their techniques for intelligence agents.

It made Sangeen feel like he'd been in the spy business too long. He wasn't even halfway to thirty – they'd picked young and strong agents as most likely to survive the experiments, although they'd been with the KSA for three years by then, enough to prove themselves trustworthy. To the extent anyone could be trusted when there was so much at stake.

"I'll do it," he said, instead of trying to talk alternate payment plans. He didn't want to promise this guy a favor that could be extracted from his organization.

"I'm volunteering too," Yonsu said, stepping forward. "Whatever experiment you're doing on him, you do to me too."

He stared at her – their modifications weren't the same! – but she ignored him. With two samples their doctor would have a better shot at protecting them from side effects, but what if the point of the experiment was those side effects? If they messed with a scientist's data, they'd ruin the experiment and how would this guy react if they dealt with him in bad faith like that?

Tao and Takeo glanced at each other, eyes wide. Tao shook his head slightly. Takeo sighed a little. He seemed disapproving, but of what?

"Excellent!" The scientist said cheerfully.

"It won't be a random sample of enhanced humans, but a larger sample size will still give you more data to work with." Tao grinned at Sangeen and Yonsu, making it clear just how much he was looking forward to this. Some more payback for having the trainees test those students? This was going to be bad, but Sangeen needed this treatment, or how long before he wasn't of any use to anyone, his country or his wife?

Ignoring the tension, Frankenstein said, "Everyone, if you'll follow me to the testing room…"

M-21 walked past them, looking stoic but resigned. Seira's expression was dignified and unreadable; Regis followed after her looking faintly confused. Rael was nowhere to be seen, so he might already be there waiting for them.

They all trailed down into the lab, and Sangeen glanced down at _that_ panel in the floor. The one with the cookie machine. A _cookie_ machine, in a lab like this, with technology to create modified humans like these… Was he going to get a _lollipop_ after this 'treatment?' He heard automatic doors slide apart, but Yonsu was the first into the room.

Her _what_ sound was faint, but everyone here would have good enough hearing to catch it. Sangeen looked up to see a conveyor belt with cups every half meter.

 _Familiar_ cups.

"Let me print out two copies of the non-disclosure agreement…" The Chairman said, bustling past them back into the main lab.

So this was how he'd gotten all that money. Sangeen had figured he was centuries old and had enhanced human technology, he might have investments or been doing modifications for money or loyalty and hiding it from the Union or something, but this?

The Noblesse coffee and tea shop chain was the biggest in the world. Sangeen bought coffee there all the time – no one else had managed to get their roasting method quite right. It had been a great place to study back when he was sitting exams, and their seasonal menu kept people who didn't drink coffee all that often checking in to make sure they weren't missing something fantastic.

He heard a noise, and saw M-21 drinking the last bit of something iced through a straw. Tao had the biggest grin – he'd been expecting this and looking forward to their reactions.

A clipboard with a sheaf of papers was pushed into his hands, another into Yonsu's. "Industrial espionage is a constant threat. No matter what I work on improving, someone's always trying to steal my research for their own use." He sighed. "It's time to start preliminary testing of next year's summer menu. Since I have access to nobles and enhanced humans, I should take advantage of the opportunity for market research."

It wasn't as thought the Union's enhanced humans were buying anything. Not when they can just take it.

"If _he_ woke up, he'd want tea!" Tao exclaimed. "You wanted him to go to the place named after him and recognize your recipe, right Boss?"

Regis was drinking boba tea resignedly, while Rael was holding some kind of concoction at arm's length. Seira had claimed one of the ordinary-looking cups of tea, while Cadis Etrama di Raizel was gazing at the conveyor belt and the remaining drinks, in deep contemplation of the options.

"I wanted Master to have a decent cup of tea, wherever he was," Frankenstein corrected him. "When I think of that swill Urokai Agvain – the Sixth Elder – tried to make him drink…" There was that terrifyingly powerful aura, but the _context_ that brought it out? Sangeen's eyes were wide almost more with the inability to take this seriously than fright. "Also planes don't grow on trees."

"We do have a runway," Regis said, sounding vexed. "The Kravei had to clean up the wreckage."

Seira Loyard passed Cadis Etrama di Raizel a drink that seemed to be mostly whipped cream. He took it with a nod of thanks.

Ignoring his noble student, the Chairman said, "Just to check, has your doctor identified any new allergies or food sensitivities since the attack on your headquarters?" They shook their heads, noting the implication that his information on them was out of date and wondering if that was true. He might just not have bothered to get his hands on it. "Good. The pens and assessment forms are over there – I'll print out more forms – Oh, and switch the cookie recipe," and bustled out again.

Yonsu had finished reading her papers and held out her hand for Sangeen's. He gave them to her – her memory was enhanced, she would be better at checking for any differences.

"They're not spiked," M-21 said, and Sangeen turned to look at him.

"Unless you count nutritious stuff," Tao chimed in.

"The Clan Leader says he won't do anything inappropriate when his Master is involved." Regis' voice held an enthusiasm they'd never heard from the youngest noble. Was that admiration, instead of the contempt and dismissal he gave the Union and how serious he was when accompanying Seira Loyard to speak with the KSA? Or in class, for that matter. Not that Sangeen had paid a lot of attention to the three nobles in class…

"And Gramps doesn't…" Tao paused. "Gramps trusts him a _lot_ less far than he could throw him!"

"Gramps?" Yonsu looked up from the papers with an eyebrow raised. A noble from a noble bloodline – that could get confusing, was there a term for the immediate families of the clan leaders? – and a mindwiped Union enhanced human shared a grandfather? Couldn't be genetic – Tao was good at ingratiating himself, but good enough to wrangle an adoption?

"The Clan Leaders, the Central Order Knights… he's like everyone on Lukedonia's Gramps!" And Tao was taking shameless advantage, it looked like. "He offered the three of us contracts to apologize for using us to teach Regis a Valuable Life Lesson. We turned him down because it might have been another test of character, to see if we were really the kind of people who'd 'betray humanity for power.'"

Takeo frowned at Tao. "That was why you turned him down?"

"That and I didn't…" Tao frowned. "I'd seen what Gramps and Regis were like, but it still didn't quite seem real? I wasn't going to let someone get power over me just for power. And he said it would be a 'rebirth,' and I'd already woken up someone completely different once, you know?"

…Rebirth? Sangeen wasn't the only one to look at Seira.

The ambassador nodded serenely. "You had just become the Tao who is Ikhan's big brother. It would be difficult to learn to be that Tao while also becoming the Bonded of Gejutel K. Landegre. You have also learned to be the Comrade of Takeo."

"A lot of how humans identify is tied up in our relationships with others," the chairman mused. "Family names, for example." He looked at M-21. "Part of the M-series. Comrade of M-24."

Oh. Putting it in terms the three from the Union, who'd had their names wiped and faces and bodies altered, would understand.

Regis nodded, folding his arms while still holding his drink without tipping it. "Your clan is a part of who you are. Acting inelegantly as a Landegre would be inelegant."

Tao tipped his head to the side, staring like an owl for a bit. "I don't think that word means what you think it means."

"Eligere." Frankenstein said, and sipped a boba tea. "On reflection, you can blame me for that one – I thought in… well, a dialect of Latin when I visited Lukedonia. Noble translation powers have a bit of trouble when they have decided on a certain word in a human language as the translation of a Lukedonian term and then the human language changes around them. See the word 'noble' itself – I would personally use _Sentiens –_ not _homo sentiens,_ of course. _Sentiens_ sentiens? Like humans are calling ourselves ' _homo sapiens_ sapiens' these days. 'Those who know themselves well. Or 'those who are aware of their self-awareness.'" That last amused him.

"So what would modern people say to say what Regis means when he says inelegant?" Tao made a face, after saying 'say' that many times.

Frankenstein smirked like he'd been waiting for this. "Darwin Award-winning."

Seira sighed. Regis blinked and then nodded, as though realizing yes, that was right, although he hadn't thought of it that way.

"Elegant means carefully chosen. Actions that are taken in accordance with your own free will. If you don't think about what you're doing, then you can accidentally do something that goes against who you are," Frankenstein explained. "The Union's victims don't know who they truly are, and almost certainly aren't acting as they would in their right minds. Nobles seem to find that painfully obvious." He looked around and raised an eyebrow. "If you don't hurry your drinks will get cold. Or melt." Sangeen and Yonsu got longer looks: they _did_ want Sangeen's life extension and their chance at what was hinted to be a very versatile technique, right? So why weren't they getting on with it?

"Can we get a copy of these?" Yonsu said, as Sangeen watched her sign her name.

"Of course." Frankenstein paused. "Don't bother handing it over to the tax people. I've been hiding from the Union for centuries – they shouldn't bother trying to connect this identity with ownership of the Noblesse coffee chain."

"You'd think…" that it would be risky to have _that_ much money given how jealous the Union is with power, Sangeen started to say, and paused. "Right. The Union doesn't pay for anything." They demanded money from governments sometimes to give to agents to maintain their covers, but that was along with people, computer chips… it was just one more thing they could take whenever they wanted.

The Chairman shook his head absently, sorting through papers. "The Union thinks themselves superior to all other humans, and merchants were a low caste in every culture with a caste system, including Europe. It's beneath the Union's dignity to concern itself with _money_."

"They just want to make sure everyone knows they can kill them," Yonsu said, handing Sangeen his own non-disclosure agreement. He signed it, not wanting to keep Frankenstein waiting any longer.

At least it would be good coffee. If there was any coffee left – no, the nobles seemed to have all gone for the tea. Takeo too, from the color of his drink.

"Using the threat of mass murder to extort money from a group subject to them… Not that death and taxes are inevitable. Lukedonia doesn't have either one."

Sangeen hesitated, because he wasn't going to say 'didn't these two's families all get killed?' in front of two high school students, no matter how old they really were.

Frankenstein looked at him, amused, and answered the question he hadn't asked. Mind-reading? No, it wouldn't have been that hard for him to figure out. "Nobles call it eternal sleep because they don't cease to exist, they enter a state rather analogous to human sleep. How deep it is fluctuates, they're at least partially self-aware, there are mental processes occurring and they're capable of responding to stimuli. As for taxes, taxation is a compulsory surrender of resources, backed by force, and the Lord can't force nobles to do anything. If they try, it merits immediate execution."

Cadis Etrama di Raizel nodded solemnly.

"Being forced to do something that goes against who they are is a fate worse than death for nobles. It corrodes their identities and will eventually drive them insane. If someone tried to force nobles to obey, the nobles would have to rebel out of literal self-preservation."

Sangeen tried to focus on listening because this was important, but he'd just picked up one of the drinks and how _weird_ these people were shocked him again. Scientist… cook, or whatever you called someone who came up with drink recipes… had he made these himself?

A centuries-old _barista_?

Whenever he thought these people couldn't get any stranger…

"Instead, the Lord has authority because they're the authority on the subject. They rule because they are the smartest and can plan out the best things for nobles to do. When the traitor clan leaders claimed Raskreia was too young to come up with plans that were better than their plans, and she wasn't able to prove her intelligence by convincing them otherwise, there was nothing she could do. She couldn't force them to stay on Lukedonia, only try to make them acknowledge her authority. With the country destabilized by the defection of half the clan leaders so soon after the other half changed over, it was important to the future of the nobles that she stay there and organize the place instead of hunting the traitors down to debate with them. Lagus Tradio thinks that he can arrange a better future for the nobles than Erga Kinesis di Raskreia can. If he's right, that would make him the rightful lord."

"He's wrong!" Regis insisted, looking personally offended.

Rael was glaring and reaching towards his hips, while Seira sat down her drink and said, "Even if you are my housekeeping teacher…"

"Of course he's not right. He's working with the Union so he can backstab the werewolf and human quisling factions and try to subjugate humanity. Raskreia's strategy is obviously better for the nobles because it's the one where we humans don't _exterminate you_." He smirked.

They were having this conversation in a lab, as Cadis Etrama di Raizel painstakingly wrote "The" on his assessment form and then started to contemplate the second word, frowning at the empty drink cup worriedly. All that whipped cream had given him a cute little milk mustache, just to make this even stranger.

Seira sighed. " _You_ have taught us that humans are not weak."

So by fishing for them to say 'humans couldn't be a threat to us nobles!' the Chairman wasn't just insulting them, but implying he wasn't a very good teacher?

"The Clan Leader said that humans destroy everything," Regis pointed out, frowning at the implication that his grandfather underestimated humans? "He also said that the Previous Lord was grateful to you for sentencing the nobles who made false contracts. If we became criminals like the traitors instead of following the Lord, we would _deserve_ to be forced into eternal sleep." Regis nodded firmly, folding his arms. One of them still held his drink cup.

"Well." Frankenstein cleared his throat. "Yes, we _are_ good at destroying things… I'll have to let that old man know I appreciate the compliment." Regis looked a little worried now. " _Some_ nobles considered themselves 'better than the weak humans,' so when I proved that humans wouldn't stay weak, no wonder it scared that scum enough to go running off to ally with werewolves and human traitors trying to neuter humanity." He looked over at Rael. "Need… need is dangerous. People will go against who they are in order to obtain something if they think it's what they need. You had your brother very worried, young man. He was watching you go crazy and since he had no idea how to help you, ended up avoiding you out of fear of making things worse."

"Urokai Agvain was not my type." Seira shook her head, as did Raizel.

Rael tried to vanish into the corner.

"Sir, I've finished my first assessment," Takeo said with a broad smile, handing the form to the Chairman. They could all hear the, 'Stop picking on Rael.'

"Ah, thank you. Is anyone else ready for their second dri-" Frankenstein paled. He was in front of Cadis Etrama di Raizel so quick Sangeen couldn't tell who was faster, him or Rael. "Forgive me, Master!" he wailed as he pulled a napkin from the conveyor belt and wiped the whipped cream from the noble's face. "Letting you get dirty just because I wanted data… I don't deserve to live…"

Sangeen figured that the Chairman was being dramatic, the way he had when his master threatened him with doing chores. Then again, he'd just been reminded that nobles were different and the Chairman, _Frankenstein_ , was from Dark Age Europe when rich people weren't upper class. For all he knew, a milk moustache could have some serious meaning to some of them…

Then he heard Regis' gasp, saw Seira's stoic face pale and saw Rael's mouth open in pure, horrified, _what the fuck_.

"I am fine," Cadis Etrama di Raizel reassured all of them.

It didn't stop Frankenstein fussing over him. "If you won't go to sleep for a bit, will you at least use one of the charms?"

From the pleading expression in blue eyes full of worryingly sincere distress, he was expecting a 'no,' but after a moment's pause the noble reached down to his wrist. Sangeen heard metal tear and Raizel lifted something tiny to his lips and swallowed. "Frankenstein."

"Yes, Master?"

The noble held up the cup he'd been drinking from.

Frankenstein blinked down at it, saw that it was empty, and looked at the conveyor belt. There were three drinks left on it. "You don't need to choose only one, Master, I would like you to try all of them." He smiled. "I'm flattered that you think it would be a difficult choice. They are very different, but I hope most of them will be to your taste."

Raizel patted the hand still holding the napkin. "You made them, Frankenstein."

He looked happy to hear it, but, "The machine assembled them, they won't have the secret ingredient. I would add sugar for you, but I wanted you to know what they would taste like when you have them with your friends." At the coffee shop, not made to Raizel's taste. He looked around, and his eyes focused on Tao and Takeo. "Ah… Tea and coffee should be enjoyed in comfort. Why doesn't everyone find somewhere they can sit down, and I'll bring you the next drinks to try as you run out?"

"Sure, Boss!" Tao said quickly. "Come on, Regis."

His tug on the short noble seemed to snap Regis out of his attempt to hide his distress. M-21 glanced at Regis and Tao, but decided to stick by Raizel, following him and Frankenstein as they walked towards the elevator without Tao's hurry.

Sangeen got Yonsu's attention and called dibs on that group, since he didn't want her temper around M-21's. She nodded and hurried after Tao, because Tao clearly wanted answers and the KSA wanted them too. Sangeen nudged Rael's shoulder with his fist to snap him out of it, then walked towards the elevator before Rael could process that just happened and decide that sputtering over human indignity was better than freaking out about what just happened.

That meant Sangeen ended up spending the rest of the day in the living room with M-21, Cadis Etrama di Raizel and Seira J. Loyard. Also sometimes Rael, because Frankenstein bringing the drinks turned out to mean Frankenstein making the noble handle delivery, which he did with varying levels of politeness. He was too focused on the noble at the head of the table to even comment about serving drinks to a human, glancing at Raizel even when putting drinks down next to Seira. Both the other nobles ignored him, except for the occasional nod from Raizel, whose attention seemed almost entirely focused on what to say about the drinks. He took it very, very seriously, looked like, but then it was something he was doing for Frankenstein, who seemed to seriously care about him, so that was fair. Sangeen wouldn't want to risk saying the wrong thing if Yonsu ever found the time to try to learn how to cook for him.

Frankenstein came in a little after the sun set outside. "Agent Sangeen."

"Yes?" he asked, a little nervous almost because the man seemed entirely businesslike. It meant that something was going on, and Sangeen didn't rate high enough for Frankenstein to play games with him now. When these people were protecting the country, something that _they_ took seriously could be big trouble.

"If you'll come by tomorrow, a half-hour before school starts, I'll have the treatment set up."

Sangeen assumed he wouldn't want them in the lab unsupervised. It was that fast?

Did it take longer when he invented it, before power grids and modern technology?

"Thank you," was what he said.

"Don't mention it." The Chairman smiled. "It's been a very long time…" There was something tired and honest in how he said that; the man himself seemed to realize that, because he made the effort to smile for a second as though he was about to do something to scare Sangeen, but seemed to feel it was enough to see Sangeen tense up in reaction to that smile. "Agent Yonsu will be down soon."

With enhanced hearing, Sangeen could hear her on the stairs, and it was something that actually, he didn't have to pretend he couldn't hear her yet. Everyone here knew he was enhanced.

"Good night," the Chairman said, dismissing them.

"Good night," Seira Loyard echoed, and Cadis Etrama di Raizel looked up from the form to nod regally.

"What happened?" Sangeen asked Yonsu when they were in the car.

"Noble enhanced healing heals their clothes too, and keeps them clean. They've only seen a noble get dirty when they're too busy healing serious injuries for their powers to fix the minor stuff."

Sangeen grimaced. Damn.

"He hasn't been in a fight recently," Yonsu confirmed.

"Do they know what's causing it?" With these people's enhanced healing, or natural healing for nobles, what could keep one sick even after this long?

"They don't want us to know, and I don't think we do either."

Sangeen nodded. Cadis Etrama di Raizel was the most powerful of that group, and the Union had announced it was going to rule South Korea directly, and other countries were eyeing the fact that South Korea was still independent. They hadn't pushed for answers after the Director said it was the kind of thing the Union would kill them for knowing, but the mere fact that someone, _somehow_ had avoided Union takeover was giving a lot of desperate people hope, and at some point agents would start going rogue trying to find out how the hell South Korea had done it and how to get the same deal for their country.

The only reason the Union hadn't made an example of his country just to crush that hope, forget being where multiple Union elders died had to be that they didn't want to lose even more Elders. If they found out the Chairman's group was weakened, then the city would become a battleground. Their country would become an _example._ When the KSA had to be the buffer between the Union and the country, it was too risky. What they didn't know, the Union couldn't get from them. "Interesting that he thinks curing something that kills a ton of Union enhanced humans is trivial."

Yonsu shrugged, nodded. It might be frustrating that the two of them were so weak, but if it was their honest opinion that those guys were absurdly powerful then they couldn't give the Union any ideas for fighting them other than 'don't.'

Well. They'd do their best to keep the Union from getting even that much out of them, if it came to it, but when were the odds ever in their favor.

Rubbing the back of his head, Sangeen said, "I think I'm still a little wired from those drinks." Normally he had some trouble keeping his blood sugar up, but half of those were calorie bombs to fuel major projects, so they also came in handy for an enhanced human's metabolism – if other enhanced humans even needed to eat, when nobles didn't. "Are you up to sparring after we give our reports?"

No tetchy Rael. No Takeo to be helpful and encouraging and so much better than them. Just him and his wife.

"Great idea," she said, punching her fist into her palm and smiling at him, and for a moment the world was just fine.

* * *

 _The secret ingredient is love._

 _Yeah. That's a canon thing._

 _Ah, the Noblesse S webnovels. We need more of the household being a very very strange yet loving family. Also puppy._

 _I wanted to write something like the automatic door scene, with Raizel encountering Interesting Tea and the couple seeing him contemplate the drink options like shirts, but he's almost certainly been invited to the Noblesse coffee shop before and his friends have worked out a system for Rai's paralysis when confronted by too many options. Like, they know that it's fun for Rai, but they can't be there all week._


	29. Parents' Day

_This takes place after the last chapter that was on the island. There's only one more chapter until it's caught up? I hope?_

* * *

"So, what do you think of the new model?" Tao said after jumping down at the helicopter, grinning at Takeo and M-21.

Takeo saw he was also keeping an eye on Rael and Regis, and gave him a disappointed look for the 'new model' quip. The Union killed old models to bring in new ones.. Oh, it was a reference to Frankenstein taking down the previous owner of the soul weapon. It was still in poor taste, enemy or no enemy.

M-21 seemed amused, though, at the thought of a Union Elder being the inferior model to a throwaway experiment.

While Takeo was still examining Tao, Rael rolled his eyes. "If it worked, it's better than not being a clan," he allowed, still sounding disgusted.

The three enhanced humans looked at him.

"A clan is not a clan unless it has a clan leader and a soul weapon," Regis explained. "That's why Seira was recognized as a clan leader even though she hadn't reached her majority, so the traitors wouldn't have destroyed the Loyard clan even temporarily."

"All of the clan leaders had to take responsibility for some of the nobles who belonged to the traitors' clans. As though my brother and Ludis don't already have enough to do," Rael said, arms folded.

"I get an _entire clan?"_ Tao asked, practically bouncing in place.

"Won't they mind that he's an enhanced human?" Takeo asked before Tao could get too excited.

"Not after an enhanced human slew Ignes Kravei," Regis said firmly.

Rael took a step back, alarmed. "What do _you_ know about Ignes?" he asked Regis, moving forward again to loom over him demanding answers.

Takeo frowned. It was nice to see Rael worried for Regis, but the fact there was something that made him show that much worry for the little noble…

"My parent brought me when he visited because Clan Kravei didn't have any children and wasn't making any more until Ignes was in eternal sleep."

"Why would Sir Rousare be visiting the Kravei?"

"Because everyone knew they were under Clan Mergas' protection, because they live off the coast of Lukedonia."

The head of Clan Mergas was in charge of Lukedonian National Security, so yes, he was the logical choice for jurisdiction over the people closest to the border, which might bear the brunt of Union raids and attacks.

"So Ludus asked my parent to be the one to help them move and remember where their new homes were."

"Good thinking!" Tao said. "But can't nobles sense where other nobles are?"

"They live in Sanctuaries," said Regis. "And hopefully it will be hard even for Lagus Tradio to find the entryways through that much seawater. Especially without Roctis and Ignes to help him."

"They live in the water?"

"Of course not!" Regis said, annoyed. "Under the water, not _in_ it. That's why they live in Sanctuaries, so the water doesn't get everywhere. That's why it was faster if a clan leader helped them move. They don't have a clan manor – they live by themselves, like the Ru. My parent said that when he was made they lived in a clan manor, but all of them except Roctis and Ignes left before the Previous Lord went into eternal sleep."

"And no one wondered why… Right, nobles." M-21 snorted.

"No one _asked_ ," Regis agreed, nose wrinkled with displeasure. It would have been beyond scandalous to pry like that, but he agreed it would have been really good to know, in hindsight. "How old are you?" he asked Tao.

"Late twenties, why?"

"More like mid-twenties," Takeo corrected him. "Our memories go back around two years."

Rael and Regis looked at each other, then realized what they were doing and looked pointedly away.

"Clan Kravei will most likely ask for you to be raised by them in Lukedonia." Regis' hand reached up to touch the point of his hair protectively. Did the Kravei ruffle his hair without asking when he was younger? Or had he let them even though he didn't like having his hair or anything messed with because the Kravei didn't have any children of their own?

"If they want me in charge of people I'm staying with Boss to get an education, but I'll visit, though," Tao said cheerfully. He leaned towards Regis, rubbing his hands together. "How are they at spoiling?"

"Can you even summon the soul weapon?" Rael asked.

Tao reached up. "C'mon, Cetus!" he called cheerfully as his arm snapped forward, the whip appearing near the end of its arc.

Rael didn't flinch: it wasn't moving fast enough he couldn't tell it wasn't going to hit him.

"C'mon, Cetus?" M-21 folded his arms.

"That's not the final version; I haven't had time to think of something cool yet!" Tao protested. "It has to go with the masks, RK has our style to think about!" He looked around. "The original four members are here: we can have a meeting." He fished his cellphone out of a suit pocket. "I'll send you the list of stuff Boss and the others want, Rael."

Instead of protesting, the noble said, "See that you do," and made his annoyed escape before he could be dragged into this. He paused by the door. "Have fun, Regis." He was gone before Regis could retort that no, it wasn't a little kids' club, or was he going to imply something about RK when _Seira_ was a member?

"We'd better go down to the lab," Tao said, still tapping away at his cellphone. "I'm going to have to set up the security measures Boss had so no one could get into _his_ manor while they were gone _and_ a hologram projector so it looks like the house is still in this dimension.'

"We're all going out to the island?" Takeo wondered.

"Well, I'm supposed to leave Rael, but father-son bonding time!" Tao grinned at Regis' expression. "The more time Boss gets to work on him, the less annoying he'll be."

From Regis' sideways glance, true, but, "There are limits." Even if it was Rael.

"It's for his own good, Number 3," Tao said, nodding. "If he's in the lab getting patched up he won't be able to annoy Miss Seira. She can send him to meet his dad!"

"Yes," Regis was forced to admit. "She hasn't done it yet, but Sir Rajak is Sir Karias' friend. I have an obligation to my teacher." So it was one thing for Regis to get in fights with Rael, another for Rael to annoy Seira and end up in eternal sleep?

"What? No, not like that! Well, yeah, she can do that too," Tao said, and Takeo had to agree that Seira would have little trouble defeating Rael when Rael was still getting his priorities straight, "but I met the Fourth Elder! If she can do that, then she could send Rael to talk to that guy who crushed on Boss!"

"Sir Ragar," Takeo remembered. It was possible for Rael to see the father who left him so young again?

"Right!" Tao agreed. "So he needs to stop ticking off Miss Seira! If he does it _now_ , she might not _ever_ help him with that!"

"Seira can send people to speak to soul weapons?" Regis' eyes were wide.

…His father, Takeo thought, looking at Regis sympathetically, then hurriedly looking down at his gun again to spare the noble's dignity.

Regis went on, almost tentatively. "I wonder if…"

"I'm sorry Number 3!" Tao wailed, roping Regis in with the whip and squishing him, cellphone vanished from Tao's hands. "Seira sent me to talk to a stupid Elder just so I could have a soul weapon when you haven't gotten to see your dad!"

"What? No!" Regis said, offended. "I'm asking about Grandfather!"

"Something happened to Gejutel?" Takeo asked, hands freezing.

"Not Regis' Grandpa!" Tao sounded horrified by the idea, but not really afraid.

That was right, Takeo realized. If something happened to Gejutel, this wasn't how they would find out about it. Regis wouldn't be acting like normal if he knew he'd lost his grandfather.

"The clan leader was very busy – he had to make arrangements for the Previous Lord's entry into Eternal Sleep, help instruct the new clan leaders in how to perform their duties and then my parent created me." It was a relief that Regis didn't look guilty, just miffed. "He and Father were going to spend time together later, when it wouldn't undermine Father's authority for people to think he needed his parent holding his hand all the time, but then the traitors sent Father into eternal sleep. I am fine, but if it is possible, I would like Grandfather to see his child."

Takeo smiled. Regis was a good kid, he thought, as Tao hugged Regis tighter and started talking aloud about what a good kid Regis was as Regis permitted it and waited for the noise to stop.

"Shouldn't you start on the security so we can get going?" M-21 asked finally, trying to pretend it wasn't for Regis' sake.

"Right!" Tao straightened up, letting Regis go. "Preparations for our RK mission?"

"What mission?" M-21 demanded as Takeo took care not to frown and make Tao think he disapproved of Tao having ideas, but was still considering damage control.

Going along with what Tao wanted was usually the best strategy, he'd found. Tao was much happier now that he was able to be assertive, and it wasn't… Tao's ideas may seen as ridiculous as Frankenstein wanting them to taste test ramyeon seemed ridiculous, but Takeo would rather live in that ridiculous world. Regis' world with knights, Frankenstein's world where people took care of each other.

"Parents' Day on the island!"

Why did Tao want to prepare for that _now?_ May 8 was months away, their lives weren't stable enough to try to pin anything down that far in advance. It was more Tao's style to know that, and plan to be in a position to pull off an elaborate Parents' Day with only days or hours of prep time.

Would they even all be alive on May 8? Would a pre-arranged Parents' Day then remind Raizel and Frankenstein of the lost, make them think when they'd failed them when it was already a miracle that Takeo was still alive? He was living on the time _they_ gave him.

Just like Raizel was living on the time Frankenstein gave _him_.

"That sounds nice." Takeo smiled. "I wouldn't mind celebrating Parents' Day now." When they were all here. While they were all alive to thank Raizel and Frankenstein, and they were here to be thanked. "We'll follow your lead, right everyone?"

Tao grinned to see Regis nod firmly, without Tao even needing to say that this was about showing respect to the homeowner and the Noblesse. Regis knew about a lot of cultures because of his coming of age trip. M-21 looked like he knew he was going to regret this, but gave a nod that was half-shrug anyway. It was good to see that of course they would, both for Boss and because they were willing to listen to Tao. "So, I'm thinking we need a cake, and balloons – _he'll_ like those, even if Boss might be worried they'd pop and make a mess. When we get there we'll start by cleaning the entire base so Boss doesn't have to lift a finger, and make them breakfast in bed – We'll take care of everything the way they take care of us!" They'd need wrapping paper for whatever they got for _him_ , but Tao knew _he_ wouldn't rip it and make a mess when that would bother Boss…

"But not doing any work was a _punishment_ for the homeowner!" Regis objected.

"…Right," Tao said. Drat. So taking care of everything on the island and doing whatever chores the Boss wanted while he relaxed might not be a good Parent's Day kind of thing to do, even if it was traditional. He'd thought all that might go wrong with the plan was sitcom hijinks, and Boss trained them too well for that! There was no way they'd mess up cooking and cleaning, not and disappoint the Boss! "Can we make more work for Boss…"

From the winces, Tao wasn't the only one thinking of all the paper on Boss' desk, or the consequences of throwing dirt on the floor so Boss had more cleaning to do. "Well, we can bring the games for _him,_ and…" Tao's eyes widened in realization. "Quick, Number 3! What kind of games do noble kids play with their parents?"

Even M-21 shifted closer to Regis – they all seemed to agree Tao had just had a brilliant idea!

Regis looked thoughtful. "Sir Raizel enjoys the Choosing Game."

"Choosing Game?" M-21 blinked. "The shirts… That's a game?"

With a firm nod, Regis told him, "It helps develop proper elegance." And Sir Raizel was very elegant.

Tao was quiet to let Takeo ask, "How do you play it?" Takeo seemed interested, and Tao didn't want him to end up like the nobles, not asking questions because he had Tao doing it before he could get a word out all the time!

"You have some things, often gifts, examine them and pick from among them." Simple, in Regis' mind. "Our parents played it with us." His and Seira's.

 _Thaaaat_ sounded noble-simple to Tao, the kind of thing where there actually _was_ a simple, practical reason in there somewhere but you had to look sideways to see it if you were from the Union and weren't going to live forever. He thought of asking, 'do they explain why they picked that one?' but that would be making noise and nobles didn't question each others' decisions. Was there scoring? That would imply that someone making a bad or even less good choice could happen, though…

"Seira and the homeowner play it with you all the time," Regis added, in case they hadn't gotten it yet. "Seira's parent also made human foods for us to choose from."

Boss and Miss Seira were playing with them when they made a bunch of different dishes and everyone got to serve themselves what they felt like eating? Boss Tao could see playing with them absolutely, especially without telling them that was going on until they figured it out themselves if they wouldn't ask. Miss Seira was playing with them like they were kids too?

"Games are _training_ ," Takeo said slowly, staring at Regis like he'd had an epiphany.

"Counterstrike is training, sure," M-21 said, "but the other games the kids play?"

"Calculating odds. Adjusting to strange situations with different rules and figuring out a winning strategy," Takeo said. "Regis said it helped develop elegance, remember. At Ye Ran, there's teamwork practice. Practice tracking and manipulating moving objects." Right, Takeo kept an eye on the soccer fields. "Noble's parents help their kids practice making choices?"

Regis nodded. "If you do things without thinking like Rael does, you could choose to do something _really_ inelegant. Or even something that goes against who you are." He made that _eww_ expression. "The better you know your own will, the more likely you are to know what the right choice is even if you don't have the time to contemplate it." Like if you were in the middle of a fight.

A grin spread across Tao's face as he realized what Takeo meant. "So that's why you're so stubborn! I bet your dad worked really hard to find time to play with you!"

Regis gave him a suspicious glance in case he was trying to imply that there was ever a possibility that Regis' father wasn't great at taking care of all his responsibilities, but nodded anyway and accepted the compliment on his father's behalf.

If it was a game, then knowing nobles they wouldn't be keeping score by counting. The fun part was weighing the options… Oh! Like when Tao had multiple good plans and he got to go over them to figure out which one was the _best_ and most fun without it being urgent or desperate. It was good practice _and_ fun. "So we'll go get sets of three objects that it would be a tough decision for people to choose between! We should all get a set for Boss and _him_ , but they'll want to play with us!" Tao opened up his cellphone. "Let me see what the budget is…" Was there enough for – let's see: four of them; sets of three so that was twelve; Boss _him_ RKSeiraShinwooRael was nine; Regis wouldn't be getting a set for himself and the rest of RK wouldn't either, so that was minus four sets of three. Ninety-six things – was that doable?

"You've spent all your salary again."

Tao looked shifty, which was admitting M-21 was right.

"We'll pay for your share," M-21 said without needing to look at the other two. "You're the one organizing all this."

"M-21!" Tao cried, because M-21 respected that his planning was work instead of just taking it for granted while thinking it was worthless because it wasn't fighting!

M-21 even held still and let Tao grab him! He had the best comrades! Or… family?

Tao felt _emotions_ welling up, but they needed to get going! "I'll put cake on the list of things for Rael to get! Everyone's packing extra shirts, right? We can put anything breakable in the shirts to keep it safe!" Then again, shirts broke really easily…

"Of course," Takeo said. "Should we get going?"

"Right!" Tao stood straight. "RK, move out!"

* * *

The helicopter landed a little before noon the next day. Frankenstein and Raizel were there to greet them – the dust cloud in the distance showed where Seira and Shinwoo were.

"Hey, Boss!" Tao waved. "I'm fine! Nothing wrong with me that wasn't already!"

Frankenstein considered taking umbrage at that, reminding Tao that there was a lot _less_ wrong with him than there was when the Union botched his enhancements. He did need to hammer in with them that they didn't owe the Union anything and their 'weakness' had nothing to do with _them_ , it was the fault of those idiots.

He could sense Seira and Shinwoo had stopped their spar and were coming here. Seira must have sensed Regis and Rael. Or heard the helicopter even over the noise of their fight.

Sure enough, she landed next to him lightly on the tip of her foot, holding on to Shinwoo's hand. He could sense her power around Shinwoo momentarily, keeping him from hitting the ground hard enough dirt could fly up and land all over them.

"Hey, Shinwoo! I made you a mask!" Tao said, waving it in the air. "Now you're SK-01!"

Frankenstein shouldn't have expected Tao to forget about knighting Shinwoo, but he'd expected it to wait until they got back to the mainland. No, of _course_ Tao had thought ahead and packed those supplies.

The boy had the sense to look at Seira and tilt his head before saying yea or nay. From the slight smile she wouldn't mind.

 _That_ was going to add to the trouble when Rael heard about it, Frankenstein noted, hoping Master could head it off. Contracts were forbidden and romantic relationships were a rarity on Lukedonia while he lived there. Romance seemed to be mostly considered an exotic human thing that was somewhat in fashion because the Previous Lord favored it, but from what he understood all nobles experienced clan and fealty relationships except those like Ignes Kravei. Frankenstein declaring himself Raizel's 'loyal servant' while clearly play-acting the role had driven Urokai into frothing jealousy as he fantasized about defending Raizel from the evil human. Who knew how Seira being in a kind of relationship he understood (clearly he hadn't known the first thing about romance) would interact with Rael's parent issues?

For once in his life, there was something that Frankenstein would rather _not_ know, but it was his responsibility as Rael's parent.

Blasted Ragar. One of these days, when Rael least expected it, Frankenstein was going to melt down Grandia and feed it to Master. And blast the Previous Lord, he thought, rubbing his forehead, for knowing him so well when they'd only interacted a handful of times.

His bond with Master had kept him together through the centuries of lying to everyone he met, never able to show his true face, but children… these children were a blessing. Their happiness brought Master such joy.

Shinwoo held up a hand and Tao tossed it to him. Shinwoo put it on right away. "How do I look?" he asked Seira.

Frankenstein signaled Rael over to him when he stepped out of the helicopter. "Here's the list of supplies, sir."

"Good." Frankenstein nodded approvingly even though the list was in Tao's handwriting. "Once you've gotten everything stowed away, why don't we make tonight's assignment devising a supply list for Kertia on a six-month mission to the human world, with the reasons for each item? I'll look over it with you once you've got a rough list, and when you have something that looks good we can send it on to your brother. The human world is constantly changing, so I'm sure he'd value your insights."

There, that was Rael settled for the rest of today.

"Wait, Boss, could we maybe have a break this afternoon?" Tao barged in before Rael could react. "Shinwoo's here, so mind if we play a game?"

"Alright," Frankenstein said, and glanced at Master so they would think that he was the reason Frankenstein gave in. Even though the experience of someone striking his poor Master made him want to die. Master _would_ enjoy it, Frankenstein could see the interest in his eyes, but Frankenstein wanted to look over Tao again and it would be a good idea to have Shinwoo, Seira and Rael in the same room, getting some practice being civil, _before_ they returned to the mainland and his poor house.

Tao clapped his hands together. "Great! I'll get Number 3 and set up outside!"

…What game was this? But Tao was already bustling off as Takeo asked Rael, "Would you mind if I helped you unload the helicopter?" and thinking about it, Frankenstein appreciated that this social gathering wouldn't be taking place indoors.

* * *

Setting up turned out to be several blankets spread out over the grass, with snacks in easy reach and a stack of bags over to one side.

"What are we playing?" Shinwoo asked, sitting down between Seira and Takeo.

"It's a game Regis told us about."

"A Lukedonian game? Cool."

"Ta da!" Tao reached into the bag at a speed blending-in training taught him would be a blur to unenhanced humans.

Raizel stared at the three kinds of instant ramyeon placed before him, face growing pensive.

"The Choosing Game?" Rael complained.

"We wanted a game that parents played with their kids! Happy Parent's Day!" Tao told Frankenstein and Raizel.

Eyes still on the ramyeon, Master's cheeks darkened a little.

Parent's Day? Old habits made Frankenstein want to argue, say that he didn't care about them at all because children of his _would never be safe_ , but do his best to communicate through words that had to be barbed that this didn't make them unworthy at all, he was doing this _because_ they deserved to be well and happy.

He kept himself from saying that, but he still couldn't… couldn't quite bring himself to tell them yes. So he smiled up at Tao, saying, "You've made Master very happy."

From the others' smiles, they heard what he was truly saying there – because they knew that when Master was this happy, he was happy. Takeo's smile was bright and soft, and M-21 was smiling to himself in a way that couldn't even be called a smirk as the two of them put bags in front of everyone.

Oh no.

Rael had no idea what was going on. It was one thing to exclude Seira, when she was an adult and wouldn't want to _openly_ acknowledge that she needed or wanted a parent figure. That would be a horribly loaded thing for a clan leader of Lukedonia to do, when the traitors claimed that someone even her parent's age was a mere infant, not able to take care of or make decisions for themselves. Seira wouldn't symbolically disrespect her peers or her Lord like that. But Rael wasn't a clan leader.

He was also the only biological child here… Or actually, no. According to a blood test, yes, but Frankenstein's genes had nothing to do with Rael's conception. Frankenstein's genes were part of what made up his body, yes, but it was rather like how donating an organ to someone didn't make you one of their parents.

That hadn't kept Frankenstein from acknowledging Rael as his son, and doing it very publicly to make a statement about human bodily autonomy. Tao _knew_ that Rael was a child of his house, the same as Tao and his comrades, and he hadn't even informed Rael of this on the hours-long helicopter ride? This was an activity for the younger children and their parents and they'd left Rael out of getting to make his own selections to present along with everyone else?

Frankenstein was going to have _words_ with Tao over this. About the difference between taking a prideful noble down a peg and making an insecure child's issues worse. Frankenstein would _not_ let Tao have a hand in turning his brother into a second Urokai Agvain.

"The Choosing Game?" Frankenstein asked Rael instead of Tao even though Rael was on the other side of two blankets while Tao was standing right in front of him. He smiled sweetly up at Tao when Tao realized what that meant. How nice to have smart children.

Tao looked at him pleadingly, wanting forgiveness so this celebration of their family wouldn't end in drama, so Frankenstein smiled reassuringly. No, he wasn't going to let this be ruined for Master.

He would deal with Tao _later_.

"It's a test of intelligence-gathering and personality analysis skills," Rael told him. "You must demonstrate that you know someone else's style well enough to give them things that they consider almost equally suitable. They pick from among the objects, and if the choice is so easy for them that it's boring, you fail. It also helps _children,"_ Regis, _"_ figure out their own personal style, by seeing what things they find fitting or unfitting and realizing why."

Now Seira was looking at Regis disapprovingly.

He'd let them pick a game that Rael must be _absolutely terrible_ at?

It looked as though he'd be dealing with Tao _and Regis_ later, if Seira didn't handle it herself. She was responsible for his conduct while in the human world.

"I see," Frankenstein said. "Giving gifts has more meaning if the other person put thought into them. If they can find things that are just right, it demonstrates that they understand and respect your will."

And now he felt like a bit of an idiot. He'd known that Master didn't mind how long he needed to choose shirts, and that Master found it challenging, but he should have put two and two together after sparring with Ragar and realizing that nobles actually _could_ enjoy challenge instead of considering themselves always perfect with everything and seeing challenge (from a human, for example) as a threat to that self-image.

"Here are M-21's, boss?" Tao handed him one of the bags.

Opening the bag, Frankenstein put the three of them on the blanket in front of him and looked up at M-21, delighted.

M-21 smirked. "I just went to a print shop."

"Aww, no fair!" Tao exclaimed but couldn't put much real protest into it, mostly envy, because he knew they all knew he'd have done the same thing if he'd thought of using pictures from his cellphone.

That made M-21 laugh a little at Tao, because Tao was trying to tell the discarded Union experiment that things weren't fair? If anything, what was fair was the universe being unfair in M-21's favor for once.

"Oh, and Rael is the founder of the feast!" Tao realized. "He got the groceries and picked out the cake!" Tao pointed to Rael with a flourish, and fortunately Rael picked up the cue to… no, Takeo was the one to realize Tao was giving him the opportunity to step into the middle of the circle and present the cake to Raizel and clue Rael in.

Rael bowed properly to Master, who looked up from the ramyeon packets to watch as Rael lifted the lid off the cake box. Elegantly, and Frankenstein felt some hope that Rael might get to feel like he was a part of this day and have it as a happy memory.

Master nodded regally, and Rael bowed again, set the cake and cut Raizel a slice without smearing frosting or disturbing the frosting's two-color geometric design.

Bowing again, he delivered the cake into Master's hands, waiting for Master to take the first bite. He smiled when Master nodded his approval.

"Well, Rael, it seems as though you've done a good job learning Master's taste." Thanks to Frankenstein letting him have the honor of taking care of so many of Master's tea refills and treats.

Frankenstein watched Rael realize that yes he had, hadn't he? That Tao had sent him out to find the cake for such a special day trusting that Rael would choose the perfect one without needing to be told.

Rael vanished from the middle of the circle, quickly deposited cake slices in front of everyone and became visible again sitting next to Takeo, who turned to smile at him.

Why yes. Frankenstein _was_ good at this.

* * *

Munching on a forkful of whatever kind of cake this was (M-21 was just glad it had a bunch of different flavors instead of being pure sugar), he stared down at the things in front of him.

They were Regis', that was easy to tell.

It was also easy to see that Raizel was having fun reading the ingredient labels and looking them up on his phone, or maybe looking up the manufacturer's practices or something, so they were going to be staying here until Frankenstein sent Shinwoo, or Shinwoo and Tao, to bed at least.

Huh. This was Raizel's kind of thing. He liked sitting in the living room, being at peace and being happy that other people were also at peace. People were _there_ , but they weren't coming up to you or bugging you, it wasn't as noisy as the kids' games. Raizel would like it if everyone here had something interesting and fun to do.

 _Was_ this fun, though?

M-21 liked the idea of it, giving kids practice thinking about what _they_ wanted, when the Union said that didn't matter. It wasn't hard to get why it was fun for baby nobles, when Regis was all about elegance. It would probably be fun for Tao too, when he _loved_ overanalyzing stuff.

He was lucky he'd picked out Regis' bag first. Regis was the only one of them who'd ever played this before, so he might have picked out the best examples of how it worked? M-21 had gone with photos because he knew that Raizel would love those no matter what, so he didn't have to worry about messing up.

The first thing was a cat statue made of shiny black rock – the cat was sitting up and had its tail wrapped around its legs. It was cool and smooth to the touch and not _heavy_ , M-21 was an enhanced human, but there was a weight to it that plastic didn't have. When he picked up and tossed it, it felt very real. Not like a real cat, but something that was definitely there, and solid even if he could crush it without a problem.

Why a cat, he wondered, and just asking the question made him realize the answer was 'because it's not a wolf.' Or a dog. Cats were proud and independent and there were stray cats.

A can of juice, the kind he got at work when he didn't feel like coffee. Had Regis gone by the school to get it there instead of at a supermarket where it would be cheaper? Probably. Why not coffee or tea – right. They had coffee and tea here, M-21 could get those anytime he wanted. They hadn't brought juice to the island. It wasn't even that M-21 liked the juice all that much.

Aside from the fact that he drank it at the school. And usually it was Takeo or Tao getting it for him. Why did Regis even know what kind of juice he got?

Maybe the practical one to pick was just the juice, since he didn't want to end up with his room covered in stuff like Tao's. He could drink the juice can and throw it away. Except that'd be kind of a waste when he had a cup of hot coffee right here.

He looked back at the cat statue. It was a knick-knack. What would he do with it? "I'll just toss it," he thought, but something felt _wrong_ about throwing it away. The trash was for things that were broken, used up. Worn out.

The cat statue wasn't even chipped, and he remembered the feeling of weight in his hands. Weight, _significance_. You couldn't toss something like that in the trash. Or you shouldn't. Or you'd be an idiot to throw it away, when it was art or something and probably worth some money.

That kind of thing maybe belonged on a shelf somewhere, but there was no way he was keeping a can of juice. It'd be a waste not to drink it when that was the entire point of why people gave you juice.

What was that phrase, comparing apples to oranges? This was nothing like Raizel and those identical shirts. These things were totally different each other, so how was he supposed to pick? One was pretty to look at and the other was kind of nice to drink and use up.

So far, it felt like picking between them would be totally arbitrary, just what he felt like at the time.

Oh. M-21 smirked. Regis was _good_ at this game. M-21 might only know two Landegre, but that was enough to know that they would have been all over teaching this kid to be stubborn. He bet the Kravei played it with him too, because their clan heir was _Union_ while Regis would take it totally seriously.

Playing to win.

M-21 looked next to him at Regis and narrowed his eyes. Challenge accepted.

And he hadn't even taken a good look at number three yet.

A small black square box, the sides sleek and shiny. There was a click as he opened it. White cloth inside, with a button, held down by another lid so it didn't start unfolding itself. It had to be compressed pretty tight.

A shirt. Definitely. One he could probably keep in a pants pocket. Because M-21 kept getting his clothes wrecked and people might say that werewolf regeneration was the best but nobles could regenerate clothing too. Regis had snapped at him that it was inelegant to walk around shirtless after a fight, and he should have some self-respect because people might think he'd _lost_ to Union scum, or got beat so hard it destroyed his dignity.

M-21 had told the noble brat that he didn't care what people thought of him, but Regis just looked annoyed at him, because the noble thought he was totally missing the point.

He could imagine Regis tossing this at him, going, 'Now you have no excuse! Put the damn shirt on!' Or that was what he would have said if he talked like a human instead of a noble.

Alright. A knick-knack (something real and dignified and beautiful that didn't care if he wanted it or not); a disposable tin can (cool on a hot day, Tao's and Takeo's hands, smiling kids all around them); and something that he could keep around so the noble didn't get prissy at him after the next fight (a reminder that Regis cared about an experiment's dignity and wouldn't tolerate anyone looking down on M-21).

M-21 glared at them.

Most of the time, it was easy to think of Regis as… not like the innocent kids from Frankenstein's school, but _a_ kid, or not much difference between him and the experiments who only remembered a few years.

This was the first time he'd seen something that made it feel _real_ that the brat was _two hundred years old_ and had time to get _really good_ at something, the way Frankenstein was better than everyone at everything.

He was sure Takeo had tried to do the same thing Regis was doing – Takeo noticed and remembered and cared about the little things about everyone – and Tao had probably aimed for funny stuff that would make people smile. M-21 had put the minimum effort into this, thought of what should have been a winning strategy and been overconfident. Regis could just have gotten three cans of juice from the vending machine, but _no_.

In the Union, they'd hammered it in his face that he was never going to be better at anyone who _mattered_ in any way. Wasn't much point to getting competitive, although he didn't mind getting roped into board games. It was a nice way to spend an afternoon. He sniped at Regis, but that wasn't about winning, that was about getting to defy and tick off a noble and live – could worthless trash do _that?_

He was also used to people making him feel like they were so far ahead of him that he'd never catch up – Frankenstein and Raizel were just… But it wasn't a competition between him and them, because he wasn't crazy enough to think it would ever be. How could you be in the same league as _that?_

But Regis… M-21 thought of Raizel picking out his shirts in the morning and grinned.

Regis was going to be _late for school_. He'd be doing laps with Shinwoo or M-21's name wasn't…

It wasn't.

M-21 wasn't his name. It wasn't even a name.

He was _still_ going to kick that brat's ass though, pureblood noble or not.

* * *

 _There's some speculation on Raskreia's lines in the Lukedonia Arc (although you have to be careful with anything based on exact wording because of translation issues) that makes sense if there's a way for Raskreia to 'make a clan no more' without 'forcing all its members into eternal sleep.' There'll be a lot of ? about what exactly a noble clan is until we find out what exactly non-pureblood nobles are, but a clan is still an organization, and you can shut down an organization without killing all its members. We don't know how many nobles there are that aren't part of a clan, and to what degree the clans are administrative units._

 _However, there_ is _a line that pretty strongly implies that only clan leaders can go make a case to the Lord, so it'd be a good idea for the Lord to make sure that every noble has some clan leader that is responsible for them that they can go to in case of trouble. I'm guessing that with Lagus AWOL, Gejutel was looking after Clan Tradio, so I just decided that Raskreia probably made that a thing and made sure the other clans whose heads were jerks had representation in Lukedonia's government too._

 _The Western concept of play came out of 'religious rituals,' and the Latin word for 'play' also meant 'school.' In the animal kingdom play is used to teach or practice skills like fighting and hunting. Our brains reward play because it helps us learn – like the generation that grew up 'playing' on computers is good at making use of them._

 _The human Hierarchy of Needs is a lot of what makes us who we were – for instance, look at the need for food alone and what part of history, what aspect of every single human society and change in society_ hasn't _it had a major impact on?_

 _Nobles don't need food. So something that has shaped so much of human existence isn't shaping them. So what is their hierarchy of needs? How are they getting fulfilled/how are they shaping noble society/what are the Lords doing to make sure those needs are met?_


	30. Think About What You've Done

Rael saw Raizel sitting at the picnic table Tao brought from the lab and set up outside instead of in the island's lab and landed next to it, glad to avoid having to talk about what happened in front of the humans and Miss Seira in the main base. Regis was still a child. "The humans I was assigned to train… One of those humans asked about contracts!"

"It is not wrong to want a contract." The Noblesse sipped his tea, giving Rael a moment to consider that. "You are also Frankenstein's child."

What?

Raizel frowned with concern and Rael realized that his eyes were too wide and wild and he was crouched as if to jump away instead of behaving with proper noble composure. He quickly straightened himself. He didn't want to be undignified in front of Cadis Etrama di Raizel!

That elegant face relaxed, seeing that Rael was alright. "He did not want a contract for power. He wished for a contract with me because he was alone for too long."

"Is he going to try to make me do _that_ with humans?" Because Rael couldn't have a contract with the Noblesse or any noble, so that left _them_ if he was made needing a contract like that human needed one.

'Seira cannot give you what you want' – was this what the Noblesse had meant? Was it because she wasn't a human, instead of because no noble would ever stay with Rael? His parent left him for eternal sleep, his brother for duty and training, Seira had stopped associating with him as soon as he made it clear that he wished to be around her. But Frankenstein had waited loyally for his Master, longer than Rael had been alive.

Were all humans as loyal as Frankenstein? Even enhanced humans wished to stay in Cadis Etrama di Raizel's house, to serve as his knights.

Humans might get power from a contract, and the Union proved that at least some of them were power-hungry – even if Regis' friend M-21 and the others hadn't chosen to surrender their humanity for power – but they were taking a risk by remaining near nobles. It would be… Well, it would have been easy for Seira or even Regis to make them go against who they were, before Frankenstein gave them the power to say no. How much more danger must a contract pose to a human's will? But Shinwoo seemed happy to be with Seira, even if it meant his soul no longer belonged to him alone.

But Cadis Etrama di Raizel was frowning at him, and Rael realized he'd just asked if Frankenstein might force him to barter some of his soul away against his will and how _could_ he imply the Noblesse's bonded might do that!

It felt as though everything he did was always wrong… Frankenstein's lessons helped, but…

"Humans need someone to be by their side," the Noblesse told him, once he saw Rael's look of contrition. Rael was very grateful the Noblesse didn't comment on his inelegance. "Especially as children." When Rael was a child only a little over three hundred years ago. "Guard Grandia when he is near: he is displeased with his friend for your sake as well."

Angry with Ragar? Because of Rael? Yes, because Ragar made Rael without asking, such an inelegant child, but… for leaving Rael alone?

"Takeo thought he had a younger sister to protect. The Union lied." And the Noblesse was not pleased. "He is still an older brother whose younger sibling is not here with him, and you are a younger brother." When Rajak was not here, Rajak had his duties. "Frankenstein hoped that you and Takeo would bond."

"Make a contract?" With Takeo? With an enhanced human? No, Takeo wasn't scum, wasn't one of the traitors to humanity. He was fast, for a human, and trying his best to fight like a Kertia despite his favored weapon.

"There are other types of bond," the Noblesse told him. "Shinwoo and Ikhan have invited me to 'male bonding.'"

"Other types of bond…" Yes, like the bond Regis and Seira shared, as siblings in all but blood. Or perhaps their parents had exchanged blood to make them: Regis had the build of a Loyard, and Seira had the stubbornness of a Landegre.

"The Previous Lord forbade contracts with humans because without power, they could not stand against their bonded, if a noble wished to trespass on their will. Frankenstein has done his best to protect Takeo's will. If you wish to make a contract, it would not be an offense against power."

"I would still need the Lord's permission." He wasn't going to go against her authority _again_. He didn't want to be confined or sent to eternal sleep, not now. When his brother… When his brother _needed_ him. When he would help the Kertia.

The Noblesse nodded.

A contract… perhaps not with that human, even if something about him reminded Rael of Father, but if he didn't want to be by Rael's side that wasn't what Rael wanted. There were more humans, so many of them. Surely, surely one of them? There were so many of them that at least one of them might wish to stay by Rael's side?

"Do you wish to see?" the Noblesse asked.

See what? But, "Whatever you think is wise, sir."

The Noblesse nodded and reached out a hand, touching the tips of three fingers to Rael's forehead.

An energetic shining blue-white whirl of tentacles, many of them wrapped tight around three dull red orbs but countless others reaching out to touch everything around them, checking on everyone.

" _Tao,"_ came the Noblesse's voice laden with affection, and

A solid mass of a more vibrant red, the color of fresh blood, not whirling around in a frenzy or _touching_ other people but standing there _watching_ , not serene but pawing at the ground in aggressiveness, ready to charge at anything that threatened but regally ignoring the tendrils and tentacles of blue-white light that clung to it.

" _Regis_ ," Rael knew, and

Blue-white again, a central orb with thicker tentacles than Tao's radiating outward, the other ends reaching towards each of the lights around it, but not ensnaring them. The orb they revolved around watched, the way Regis did, but with a calm acceptance, not aggressive suspicion. Caring, but not intruding.

 _That_ was obvious, as was the next.

A large red orb with a ring of smaller, duller red orbs around it. It floated there serenely, radiating warmth and tolerating the blue-white light, smaller than Tao and Takeo's, that darted in and out of the protective circle of the soul weapon.

Part of Rael still bristled, because how dare that human approach so close to Seira. At least Shinwoo was trying to keep his tentacles to himself, after realizing that they were used to feed.

That was Sir Raizel's thought, approving but also with a sigh because it really wasn't necessary to restrain himself that much. Not that Sir Raizel would comment on someone else's behavior, or say they shouldn't try _that_ hard not to harm others. Sir Raizel was too elegant.

As Rael watched, one of Tao's tentacles snared Shinwoo and let him go in the same motion. Wasn't that like Tao, always spying on everyone to see what they were up to.

Raizel looked at Frankenstein next – who else could it be? The human was surrounded by a host of lights glowing a purpleish black. Ultra-violet, that was what they called that color in the science classes Rael couldn't help overhearing from his perch on the school roof while he worked on assignments. Wasn't the color of a light determined by how fast it was vibrating, or something? If humans were blue-white to nobles' calmer, cooler red, then why were the souls of dead humans so energetic? They must be furious, obviously. Rael would be. They'd been killed by the Union like the Loyard and Landegre clans, of course they must be impatient to destroy it.

The tentacles that corralled those lights, keeping them from sneaking off and getting lost in the darkness were red-violet, a sort of light pinky-purple that didn't look like the nobles _or_ the other humans. Frankenstein's tentacles weren't wildly circling like Tao's, or floating there still except when the others moved like Takeo, but moving slowly. Still, they were always where they needed to be to contain (protect) Dark Spear, after centuries of practice.

The orb in the center was larger than Takeo or Regis, similar to Miss Seira's, and around it, closer than the cloud of Dark Spear's souls ventured, was another orb the color of a noble. The edges were fuzzy, and looking at it bothered Rael. It almost seemed as though it would fall apart without Frankenstein's tentacles holding it together, keeping energy from escaping the same way he confined Dark Spear's souls.

Sir Raizel gently pulled his attention back to Frankenstein as the human realized he was being watched and pulsed with affection in a way that made Rael's toes curl even though it made him _deeply_ uncomfortable, because that feeling like a brush of lips on his forehead was meant for Sir Raizel, not for him.

That steadfast, certain caring reminded him of his parent, he realized, and wanted to vanish before anyone called him childish or… He didn't know what.

Thankfully, Sir Raizel didn't seem to notice but acted as though everything was perfectly, pleasingly normal. Even if it was impossible for anything to be normal about _Frankenstein_ , that terrifying human, no matter what Sir Gejutel said. Well, he _supposed_ that Shinwoo had the gall to make a contract with Seira, or to _want_ one even if actually making it had been a clumsy accident on his part – that human getting punched, when they were so weak his head might have come off, forget bleeding from his mouth. And M-21 and the others had dared to talk back to him even before they became Raizel's knights and were therefore obligated to act with pride or their disgrace would reflect on the Noblesse.

But that human with a smile like knives, deception so much a part of his very soul that he could make even a clan leader like Miss Seira mistake him for a noble. A taskmaster who kept Rael's workload at the point where he wanted to cut something to ribbons out of pure frustration _deliberately,_ so Rael might slip and give Frankenstein an excuse to train him – even if Frankenstein never held back when he trained Rael. Everyone else always had – Rael was the youngest of his generation, the baby until Seira and Regis came along. Then it was assumed he would play with the babies even when he was past his age of majority – not left to take care of them by himself, of course. Who would give Rael responsibility like that, trust the baby with something as precious as two noble children?

He wanted someone to trust him the way the Noblesse had enough faith in Frankenstein to entrust his very soul to him and think nothing of it.

The way Shinwoo trusted Miss Seira, when a noble could trespass on a contractor's will, even if the idea that Miss Seira couldn't be trusted was insulting and ridiculous. If it weren't for the sheer gall of it he couldn't blame Shinwoo for taking such liberties with Miss Seira's aura. Rael would want to do the same if he were the human, he thought, and something about that thought bothered him. Or maybe the knowledge that he _would_ , but Seira wouldn't permit it.

Desperate to look away from Miss Seira and her bonded, his eyes darted to Tao, to Frankenstein and Raizel, to Takeo.

Would Takeo become his bonded if he asked? Of _course_ he should agree, Rael had a soul weapon, the human should be honored. It wasn't as though Rael would ever trespass on someone's will, he thought, ignoring his reaction to Seira refusing him. Rael would never force Sir Cadis Etrama di Raizel to have to sentence him to eternal sleep, the Noblesse was not well and it would be inelegant.

Takeo needed more training – more power so he didn't fall in battle, and a contract would give him that, and a weapon more elegant than those guns, what was Takeo, an Elenor? If Takeo could use Grandia… An image came to him then, a man with long hair in a ponytail fighting with knifes and surpassing elegance, and the hair flickered from purple to blond, dark clothing a suit or a clan leader's uniform and Rael thought of Miss Seira, how her hair flowed behind her, her centered certainty that things would be just so, more solid than bedrock, more certain than eternal sleep.

And somehow he knew that the Noblesse saw and approved, judged Rael's soul and found it acceptable as few ever had.

Seira didn't want Rael to protect her, but Takeo would permit it – wasn't that the point of RK, for them to protect each other? Takeo might… Takeo _would_ honor Rael's will to protect, even if they didn't Bond, the way he smiled to see Rael stand at Cadis Etrama di Raizel's side, ready to protect him if he had the chance. Being allowed to protect _him_ , being entrusted with the Noblesse by Frankenstein was an honor.

Protecting the school was practice for protecting Lukedonia with his brother, so it wasn't a complete waste of his time. He remembered Takeo standing watch on the other end of the roof, sometimes turning and giving him a smile and a nod when he felt Rael watching him. Rael always turned away after that, but it wasn't bad. To be protecting alongside someone, even if Takeo wasn't the brother he wished to help.

"It's a good feeling, isn't it?" Takeo had said once while they were training. "To watch over people. I'm glad that Frankenstein asked us to protect the school."

Rael couldn't help but nod.

* * *

Seira sat on a rock at the edge of the training area, still considering the three different colors of RK mask Tao brought for her consideration as an open-palm strike from Frankenstein sent Shinwoo skidding across the field.

"Can't I just…" Shinwoo wondered.

"An enemy won't be obviously telegraphing their strike the way I am. And you already know how to capitalize on an over-extended limb, Shinwoo. You know the importance of a solid stance."

"Maybe that's the problem, Boss," Tao said. "We started out with enhanced strength – well, as far back as we remember. We had to learn what happened if we hit something. Shinwoo knows what happens if something hits him and he can't brace himself." Say, because the ground crumbled under his feet if he tried to dig in his heels.

"Hm." Frankenstein nodded. "And your powers are more biokinetic than telekinetic. The energy field around your bodies will nullify a certain amount of momentum. Shinwoo's powers are preventing injury, at least."

"But my body knows what would happen if I'm hit with that a little too well," Shinwoo said mournfully. "So I go flying."

"If it's mind over matter, perhaps a mental approach?" Takeo asked.

"Meditation? Not so good with that," Shinwoo said.

"That does seem like the place to start," Frankenstein agreed. "Is there some way that you can visualize action without reaction?"

Shinwoo didn't look all that hopeful. "I've seen you guys ignore physics a lot," he said.

"But a lot of what you've been trained to do only works because of your understanding of how force and momentum affect the human body, and now you need to ignore all that." Frankenstein nodded. "Don't worry, Shinwoo, we knew that you would have a great deal to unlearn."

"A lot of it should just be doing it over and over until it sinks in, right?" Shinwoo nodded. "That, I can do!"

"Doing it over and over _correctly_ , Shinwoo." Skidding across the ground would just remind Shinwoo that being hit like that meant skidding across the ground. "Perhaps picture your powers as a force field, deflecting the blow?" Frankenstein smiled. "Or perhaps Seira should teach you how to use force fields. You shouldn't have anything to unlearn there."

"Force fields… Cool," Shinwoo agreed, looking thoughtful. He'd seen Seira call them up to protect bystanders from the fight and Shinwoo's powers – how responsible of him to want a power that could be used to protect.

Frankenstein didn't want to be _too_ much like a noble, but their traditional – or rather, their engineered culture – had a lot of things he found admirable. The Will to Protect, for one thing. There were a _few_ things that humans could benefit from stealing from nobles – only fair, when nobles copied so much from humans. Clothing, for a start.

"I'll leave you to it then, Miss Seira," he said, because she would know more about creating force fields with noble powers than he did – he'd observed nobles making force fields trying to protect themselves from him, but that was different from doing it their way himself.

This would be a good opportunity to find Tao and Regis and discuss their punishment.

* * *

"Tao…"

Tao froze when he heard Boss' voice behind him in the small lab/command center of the island. "Hey, Boss. I'll get back to training soon, I promise."

"I'm sure you will." Had better. "But I'm here to talk to you and Regis about leaving Rael out of the family activity you planned."

Oh crap. He should have known Boss wouldn't just forget about it because Tao managed to improvise with the cake. Good enough to fool Rael, but not Boss.

"Ah, well, Rael had a lot to do with getting supplies, and…"

"He's a Kertia, Tao." That was the entire reason he was tasked with doing so much by himself so quickly in the first place – having others help would just slow him down. Or at least, that was an excuse to not have to do too much with Rael – Rael even liked it that way, not having to deal with the enhanced humans too much. "He was already doing the shopping, you should at least have given him the chance to participate in your game." Yeah, it would have been a lot easier for Rael to pick some stuff up than for the rest of them. "As for you, Regis, wouldn't you have played this game with Rael on Lukedonia? There can't be many nobles close to your age."

Regis winced. He'd followed Boss into the room – so Boss had gone to collect him, then met up with Tao in here, where they wouldn't be overheard. Yeah, Boss was intending to give them a proper dressing-down. "Not since Seira reached her majority."

"Which is seventeen years out of your one hundred ninety-nine." Boss frowned at them. "Don't give me excuses when you already know you did something wrong. It doesn't help your case. Do you know _why_ what you did was wrong?"

"We shouldn't have left out Rael, or set him up to lose the game, Boss?" That was what Regis did – or maybe by not getting to pick out things for people, he'd actually saved Rael from losing too badly because Rael hadn't gotten to pick up bad choices and display how badly he knew all of them? Or would Tao making excuses for Regis go just as bad as Tao trying to make excuses for himself.

"You left him out because you dislike him. _Why_ was leaving him out wrong?"

"We don't like him because he's trying to hog Miss Seira and because he's… Oh," Tao realized. "He tried to push everyone else down so he can feel better about himself. Just like in the Union. Except here he doesn't have to do that to survive." So why was he doing that? He didn't have any excuse for looking down on everyone, it didn't help him at all.

"He's reminding you of the arrogance in the Union." Boss nodded. "Hopefully understanding why you react so badly to him will help you in future. So tell me, Tao: why is he acting that way?"

"He had a family," like the one Tao and the others had here, "And his Dad left him because the Lord said so." If Boss went away because _he_ left and took Boss with him, how would Tao feel? "And his brother was busy training and Rael was afraid to train with him in case his brother found out about Grandia." Rael could have just trained so that his reflex was to not use Grandia… except then Regis and Seira's parents didn't come back, so like Rajak Rael would have trained so he had a chance to defend the clan, right? So if he was training to fight clan leaders with Grandia, what would have happened if he found himself training against Rajak, a clan leader?

He would have pulled Grandia and then Rajak would have known. Rajak had known and hadn't cared, but Rael hadn't known that. He might have thought he'd lose the only family he had left – but then he'd been willing to throw Rajak and the rest of the Kertia away by joining Seira's clan, right? It didn't make any sense, Tao thought, and then remembered that he was designed to figure things out.

Did that mean he didn't _want_ to figure this out? Didn't want to understand Rael?

"He lost his parent – in a different way from you, Regis, but the wound is the same – and that's why he reacted that way when you and Seira lost your parents. His parent chose to follow the Lord into eternal sleep, despite the cost to Rael, who hadn't even reached his majority. Just like you and Seira hadn't when your parents chose to enter eternal sleep so the lives of humans would be spared."Boss looked Regis in the eye. "I will be speaking with Gejutel."

Regis swallowed, then squared his shoulders, clearly ashamed but determined to take it like a man. Boy. Noble.

"Your allowance will be cut off for the next month. As for you, Tao."

Regis' punishment was the money he received from Lukedonia to pay for his expenses in the human world?

Tao's salary!

"Until now, you've been paid on a weekly basis."

One week? Two? How much was he losing?!

"You'll be receiving your salary on a monthly basis from now on."

Tao paled. That meant no salary for a month! And then he'd get a larger amount, but if he got that much money at once there was no way he wouldn't spend it all at once! Then there'd be no salary for a month _again._ And again!

"This will hopefully teach you a valuable lesson about budgeting and impulse control."

There was no way to get Boss to change his mind now. Tao knew how he was about training.

"I don't mind if you two pursue other sources of income as long as it doesn't interfere with your work at the school, your training or your participation in family events." So no missing dinner. Boss quickly added, "Nothing illegal or that would draw attention to us."

"Yes, Boss," Tao said. Darn. Well, he could still do some programming for people, but what about Regis?

"Yes, sir," Regis said.

"Good," Boss said "If you two behave, then I don't think that I'll need to tell Gejutel _why_ I'm cutting off your allowance, Regis," he added and left.

Tao and Ikhan were working together to teach Regis about technology, but he wasn't on a level where he could make money that way. So how was Regis going to pay for going out gaming with his friends, or his share of the snacks when they got together? There was no way he'd let Ikhan or Miss Seira pay for him.

Oh no! Tao was going to be training with Cetus – he'd run out of shirts!

That was it! "Regis," he said, "Can you make clothes for me?"

"Of course," Regis said, giving him one of those funny looks. Why did Tao need clothing? Was he planning something with the clothes he already had?

"I'll pay you," Tao said. "Once I write a few programs." He didn't want to do too many, or it would take time away from observing the school, and watching people on patrol. And enjoying tea time and time with _his_ friends and Ikhan. But maybe he and Ikhan could work together, he'd show Ikhan how to make some money?

"You don't need to, not for _that_." Not for something so easy. "Would selling jewelry count as drawing attention to us?" Regis asked. "I suppose I could ask Rael to take it with him the next time he goes to another city."

"Selling jewelry? Right, you can conjure that up too?"

Regis nodded. "It's how the Central Order Knights buy things in the human world. Humans don't like it if you conjure money, so my parent decided that we should sell gold and gems instead."

Nobles could conjure up metals, not just organic compounds… so what about uranium? Plutonium? "Is making gold more tiring than making clothing?" Tao asked.

Regis just shook his head, because why would it be?

"Is there an upper limit on the amount you can conjure up?"

"The clan used to purify springs and rivers so the humans had clean drinking water and didn't just get dirtier the more they washed themselves," Regis said, wincing at the idea. Yeah, not being able to get clean had to be a really creepy concept for nobles. "That can be tiring."

How big were rivers? Big, but maybe not the whole river? That was transforming matter, maybe? Or replacing what was there with the new conjured matter, the way there'd be air touching M-21's chest and then suddenly, clothing!

A nuclear weapon would be smaller than a river. And nobles' passive powers would protect them from the effects of radiation, Tao was pretty sure. Nuclear winter wouldn't affect nobles when they didn't need to eat. Not that the nobles _would_ decide to get rid of humanity. Not the good ones anyway. The Union could do the same thing, Tao was sure, just make governments _give_ them the bombs, but then where would they get victims if all the unenhanced humans were dead?

Hadn't Boss said something about how it wouldn't be good if the nobles weren't bound by Lukedonia's laws anymore, and the survivors started fighting seriously and figuring out what they could do with their power? Regis wouldn't need a nuclear weapon to destroy a city, but the regular nobles were less powerful, right? They maybe might have trouble conjuring up the amount of potential energy in radioactive materials, when Regis could only manage so many of those powerful attacks against Krans? Regis was a pureblood – whatever that meant when nobles only had one parent, so how could bloodlines even mix – even if he was a kid?

Boss probably knew the answers to all this, and he had said that Tao could ask questions, but… Tao didn't want to ask these. He didn't want it confirmed that Ikhan and the others were so fragile, so vulnerable, it was so easy for _anyone_ to just kill them like they didn't matter.

The way Tao didn't matter, not to the Union. The way the person Tao used to be didn't matter, just what they could get out of using him up.

Well, Tao mattered now. He had a soul weapon, he'd _make_ himself matter to them, make _them_ see what it was like to have someone just come along and destroy all you built like it wasn't worth anything. And it wasn't, not when it came from sacrificing people whose lives were infinitely more valuable than anything the Union might ever accomplish.

* * *

 _Human souls have tentacles the better to hug/assimilate you with is something I've had in mind for awhile._

 _Rael wants someone he loves as much as Frankenstein loves Raizel (very passionate person). Couldn't make his parent stay, couldn't… he wants someone he'd kill for, and that was part of why he was happy to try to kill children (Regis) 'for Seira.'(Rajak also got the fanatic tendencies from Franken – protect Lukedonia/the Lord.)_

 _This is healthier than Rael's fixation on Seira because this is Rael understanding his own needs and trying to fulfill them, or thinking about how to do so, instead of projecting onto Seira and trying to tell her that he knew best about what she needed. Especially because Rael's never going to get closure on his Ignes issues in canon now because Ignes' arc was aborted, I can't see Rael's thing for Seira ever being healthy._

 _Adult nobles are very self-reliant, so Rael's emotional needs are WTF and it'd be insulting to even discuss them, especially since I think the clan leaders are focused on Not Being Children because of the traitors' claims. When Rael's so close to their age, he probably was the child of their generation but if he's a child, what are they?_


	31. Family Pet

Sitting in the dark living room (wasting electricity for lights he did not need was bad for the environment), Cadis Etrama di Raizel was reading the _Gaming for Idiots_ book Frankenstein had rebound into an attractive hardcover when he lifted his head.

Frowning, he put the book down, carefully placing the bookmark, and walked upstairs to the balcony. Jumping off it, he took off into the night.

* * *

"Hey, M-21?" Tao said in the control room, seeing the moving shape on his sensors. " _He_ decided to go for a walk."

"Heading for that place with all the neon?" M-21 asked to confirm, adjusting his course. 'The Red Light District' was the more direct way to say it, but the thought of _Cadis Etrama di Raizel_ going there for _that_ instead of because the lights were pretty was just brainbreaking.

"Huh, no," Tao said, puzzled, and M-21's ears perked up, paying more attention. Had he gotten confused and headed off in the wrong direction?

"I should go after him then." In case he'd gotten lost. Or it was possible he'd detected a threat and not wanted to bother any of them. M-21 felt his fingers grow short claws, the way they wanted to sometimes when he got a little irritated. Not at _Raizel,_ no, even if he didn't want him to go spend his life and leave M-21 out of it feeling helpless, but at anyone who dared attack them.

That was what he told himself, anyway.

"Roger, M-21," Tao said cheerfully, and M-21 knew Tao was just about to ask them to do that.

It didn't take long to get a visual – sometimes M-21 thought the moon was deliberately taunting him with how often it was full. A moment after he did, Raizel dropped down between two buildings. M-21 moved faster.

When he jumped down after him, he saw Raizel standing in front of a small pile of trash in the alley, looking at a small dog that was picking its way out of the trash towards Raizel, stubby little tail wagging desperately as it whined.

Watching them with a sinking feeling, M-21 instantly knew how this was going to end.

The dog rubbed against Raizel's legs before sitting down at Raizel's feet and gazing up at him, still whining. Well, that was better than barking? Maybe it was a quiet dog? Just how dirty was it?

"Tao?" M-21 said quietly into his communicator, turning away. "We're going to need a bath for a dog."

Silence for a moment. Only a moment. " _He's_ bringing home a dog?" Tao almost squealed. "Or is it a werewolf?"

M-21 turned to look at it. "Looks like a mutt," he said, based on the dogs he'd seen while out on missions for the Union. "Small. Looks like a puppy, maybe."

"A puppy?" Tao did squeal now. "I've got to show it to Ikhan! I should warn Boss, though."

Wincing, M-21 said that, "It's… pretty filthy. He might not want to be upstairs until we get it clean."

The Noblesse and the puppy were still staring at each other, although the puppy turned to look at M-21 and wagged its tail when he glanced at them. Raizel turned his head to see what the puppy was looking at before nodding at M-21 and turning back to the dog.

What was he looking so serious about? M-21 wondered, then thought about how Raizel took a lot of things seriously, though. Taking them in. Keeping Frankenstein's things neat – the dog hair was going to be a problem. Didn't they shed? M-21 definitely did, all of them had to brush their hair twice a day so it didn't decide to fall out random places. M-21 was lucky the extra hair vanished after he transformed back.

The dog's tail was wagging less often now – little thing looked tired. Raizel bent down and picked it up, holding it carefully in his arms and jumping up into the air. M-21 followed quickly enough to hear the pup's whine. When Raizel landed on the roof he pat the dog on the head carefully and walked across the roof before making a slow jump over to the next roof.

M-21 wondered if he should report that they were returning slowly, but Tao would notice and figure out their ETA.

* * *

Tao was there when they landed on the balcony. "Can I see?" he asked, already leaning over towards Raizel. "Miss Seira's making the puppy-safe wash formula I found, and I've got a bath already drawn in one of the guest rooms."

Raizel nodded when Tao seemed to require a response.

"Rael's out getting brushes and dog treats," Tao chattered as Raizel followed him into the house and M-21 followed Raizel. It wasn't too late, there were still people out on the streets, so there might be a petstore open somewhere in the country.

Regis inclined his head towards Raizel when they passed him in the hall: his hands were full of folded towels.

When they reached the bathroom, there were towels spread out to cover the floor, and even a towel in the tub, covered with a few inches of water with a couple of balls floating in it. The bathroom was really large and had metal bars at around waist height in a few places for some reason. Well, the size made it good for this – Tao must have picked out the room. Tao gestured for M-21 to sit down before sitting down himself. "Sir," he said to Raizel, "Could you put him down on the ground so we can introduce ourselves to him before he gets introduced to the bath?"

Raizel complied, kneeling down and releasing the puppy, who went straight for M-21.

M-21 stared at it, not knowing what to do. The dog stared back, panting and tired but still wagging its tail. The doggy smile seemed to be waiting for something so M-21 patted it on the head, and hid a wince when his hand came back sticky.

His eyes widened. Raizel's clothes! What if he'd gotten dirty from carrying it, should someone go get him a change of clothes before Frankenstein saw him? Looking over at Raizel, though, he seemed just as neat as when he headed out for school that morning.

The puppy had scampered over to Tao now, and Tao was holding out his hand with his fingers down so the puppy could sniff the back of it, talking in a soft but still energetic voice about how cute the puppy was and stuff like that. The puppy's tail wag sped up a bit, but then it sat down on the towel.

M-21's nose wrinkled. Oh shit. Literally.

"Regis!" Tao was already calling, slowly and carefully pulling the towel out from under the puppy as he gestured the dog towards Raizel. "Get rid of this towel!"

Grimacing, Regis took it delicately by the corners and it vanished from his hands.

"It's okay boy, so we're going to have to potty train you, or maybe you were already being trained to only go outside and on the towels?" Tao tried to pet the puppy, who backed away from him and quickly ran over to M-21, climbing into his crossed legs. M-21 stared down at it.

"Alright, M-21!" Tao said as though M-21 had one something other than getting to be the one to, "Pick him up – gently – and put him in the bath."

M-21 obeyed gingerly. Yeah, the water was shallow, didn't come up to the thing's knees. The dog immediately sat down.

"Ball?" Tao asked, picking one of them up and waving it in the dog's face. It turned away with a whine. "Aww, you're tired, aren't you. Ok, let's try and gently figure out what color he is under there – we need to let him get used to the water."

Tao and M-21 rolled back their sleeves and got to work. The dog perked up with them rubbing at it. After a couple minutes Tao took washcloths from Regis and they started using those. The color they found under the grime was dirt – pale brown, kind of a grayish brown maybe. While they were working at it, Regis spread out another towel on the floor to replace the one that got dirty and Takeo brought up a cup of tea for Raizel and a bowl of beef chopped up very small.

"Hey, you hungry?" Tao asked gently, taking the bowl from Takeo and putting it down on the ground, then picking the puppy out of the bathtub and setting it down next to the bowl. "I'm going to replace the water and make it a bit deeper this time, since he seems fine with it."

Raizel put his teacup down by the puppy. As soon as his hand was off it, Tao snatched it up quick. "I haven't had a chance to look up if tea is good for dogs yet," he said apologetically, handing the cup back to Raizel. "But if you finish the tea we can fill it with water for the puppy.

Rai drank his tea obediently as the puppy stuck his face in the foodbowl and inhaled it instantly, looking up hopefully when it was done. There really hadn't been a lot in the bowl – Takeo should have been able to chop up more than _that,_ right, even if he wasn't a knife specialist?

"It might not be good for him to eat too much all at once," Tao explained. "RK, would you guys mind taking over while I do more research? Don't let the water get too deep."

"Of course," Takeo said, sitting down and patting the puppy on the head when it came over to him. Hoping for more, probably. M-21 kept an eye on the tub.

The puppy drank a little from Raizel's former teacup, but not enough for it to really have been thirsty. That made M-21 worry a bit what it had been drinking. Maybe people had poured some bottled water out for it? Would soda make dogs sick?

What about ramyeon? Raizel had already tried to serve it tea.

Seira came in with a jar of something that smelled like soap to M-21 – must be the shampoo – and M-21 turned off the faucet.

"Should we put him back in the water or do dogs need to wait after eating?" Takeo wondered.

"It's not that deep," M-21 said, a little stung for a moment, like Takeo was implying the puppy might be in danger from the water when M-21 took responsibility for it. "If you're worried about it, we need to get it clean so we can bring it down to the lab." It was still way too dirty to be around Frankenstein. "That alley was filthy, it might be sick or something."

The puppy whined, probably wanting more food. Raizel looked alarmed – right, it _wouldn't_ have occurred to him that somebody or something might be in danger of disease, even if the kids had been out with a cold a few times. It hadn't been anything serious, just gross enough for Tao to set things up so they visited the kids at home instead of bringing snot into Frankenstein's place. M-21 had seen how he reacted to the news that one of Master's friends was sick, and that was clearly on the list of things that set him off, so they'd avoided mentioning it around him after that.

"I'll help you clean him," Takeo said, and M-21 nodded thanks because with all that hair, Takeo should be able to figure out how to wash fur, right?

The puppy was fading fast now, but it didn't mind them getting in under its fur and scratching a bit to get anything matted under there. It was actually a little cleaner underneath, which made M-21 hope it hadn't been in that alley for _too_ long. How long had it been alone? Was it even going to remember its mother? Did it have a family, had somebody named it? Tao would know how to find out if anyone was looking for a dog. If it already had a family and a name Raizel wouldn't keep it away from them.

The dog sat down in the water again. What if it wanted to lie down? Had M-21 run the water too deep? He hurriedly let some of it drain while Takeo kept working. "I think we've got most of it," Takeo said finally. "We might be able to rinse him off in the sink.

"Yeah, that'll save time," M-21 said, because the sooner they were done here the sooner they could take the dog down to Frankenstein and the dog could get some sleep while the scans or whatever were going. "Come on, almost done," he told the dog, picking it up and plopping it in the sink, running water over it carefully.

"You are a good boy," Regis said, and they stared at him. He stared back: what? "That is what you say to dogs."

Right, M-21 remembered the seeing-eye dog on campus. Most of the time everyone ignored the dog while it was working so they didn't overwhelm it, but sometimes at the end of the day the student would let one person come up to it at a time so the dog didn't get overstimulated. "Good boy," M-21 said experimentally, and the dog perked right up.

"Should I get us both a change of clothes?" Takeo asked M-21.

He nodded. "Sure," most of his attention still focused on getting under the hair and around the ears to be sure the dog wouldn't taste soap when he licked himself. Did dogs do that? The alley cats he and M-21 had watched while on missions sometimes did.

When he was pretty sure he'd done okay he took the dog out of the sink and set it down on the ground, where it promptly peed on his shoe.

Choking back a cry of alarm, M-21 quickly stripped off his shoe, but hesitated before handing it to Regis. He wrecked enough of his own clothing – would cleaning it get rid of the smell? Seira gestured for him to hand it to her and he held it out, only for her to touch it and pull back her hand. Looking at it again, he saw that it was dry and let out a sigh of relief.

Takeo had already taken the dog and was rubbing it down with a towel. The bath towels dwarfed it – it was really small, huh. "Who's a good boy?" Takeo was saying, smiling. "Oh yes you are!" The dog ignored him, looking around the room for Raizel and M-21 for some reason.

"Rael found brushes!" Tao called, coming into the guest bedroom with Rael behind him carrying two grocery bags. "And I'm thinking we should train him as a security dog! That way he won't be home alone all day, he can come to the school with everyone!"

Raizel brightened, very happy for the dog. M-21 had to admit he thought it was a good thing too: they all loved the school. Only question was how much trouble the dog was going to be. "Tao, did you look up potty training?"

Tao laughed ruefully. "Yeah, teaching him that's going to take a few… days, maybe?"

"M-21 can teach such things to him," Raizel said, speaking aloud for the first time since dinner, as far as M-21 knew.

They all looked at him. "Because M-21's a werewolf?" Tao guessed and Raizel nodded.

Well that was convenient and it was going to save their asses because Frankenstein was a hair's-breadth away from going berserk when the house or the school were contaminated, but M-21 didn't know how he felt about being a little less human.

Not that the nobles weren't okay, but M-21 had the werewolf heart stuck in him in the first place by _Crombel_ and the only werewolves he'd ever heard of were the one stuck in the basement that attacked Raizel and separated him from Frankenstein for that long, and the one that was a _Union Elder_ , just like Crombel. He wasn't going to ask if werewolves were evil or prone to turning on their friends out of the blue and practically killing them or it was just those two, not when that would give away that he was worried about going berserk or no longer being _him_ and he didn't want the others to worry about him. Tao would try to cheer him up.

Takeo said, "Tao, do you think you could do the basic tests? That way Frankenstein can leave the lab." And wouldn't have to be around the puppy tonight, so M-21 didn't have to talk to it now.

M-21 scowled at himself for letting Takeo spot that he was uncomfortable with the subject. "I'll go tell him," he said, and slipped past Rael to the door.

When M-21 got to the lab he heard the ding of the cookie machine, but it didn't smell like the regular recipe. Realizing that made him realize just how used he'd gotten to using his sense of smell. Sure he used his other enhanced senses too, but when he could apparently _speak dog_ … "Dog's clean," he told Frankenstein, hands in his pockets. "Experimenting with the cookie recipe?"

"These are dog biscuits," Frankenstein told him. "Only the highest quality ingredients, of course. I should have tried getting Master a dog back then," he said, eyes going to the capsule with Muzaka in it and aura of menace rising.

Frankenstein thought that dogs and werewolves had something to do with each other too, then? "Tao said he'll run the basic tests," M-21 said, before he could get too wound up about that or Frankenstein's menacing aura could rise further.

"How considerate of him," Frankenstein said, giving a polite smile instead of a sharp one as he took the dog biscuits from the cookie machine and piled them on a plate. They looked the same as the regular cookies, M-21 noticed, and realized he'd better make sure Tao and Raizel didn't accidentally eat any.

Frankenstein handed him the plate, going past him to the elevator, and M-21 went into the elevator with him to bring Raizel the puppy treats and let Tao know the lab was free. He saw Frankenstein go into his office and relaxed.

When he got up to the guest bathroom again, more of the towels on the floor were wet but the puppy looked mostly dry. It was curled up on Raizel's lap but as soon as M-21 went into the room it came over to him.

Probably smelled the treats, M-21 told himself. "These are for the dog," he told the others first thing, before handing the plate to Raizel. Raizel put it on the ground. Didn't you give dogs dog treats one at a time?

"Maybe we should give them to the puppy as a reward for going through the testing?" Tao said, picking up the dog a moment after it pounced on the treats, sending most of them flying off the plate. Takeo and Regis scrambled to pick the treats up before they got wet and started to disintegrate. "Maybe we can teach him that when he goes to the lab he gets treats."

"Then he'll be trying to get into the lab all the time so we'll give him treats," M-21 said.

"The houseowner would not appreciate that," Regis agreed.

"But a lot of pets end up scared of medical offices and labs… But I guess the scanning beds won't be as invasive as whatever they use for testing," Tao realized. "Takeo, grab some towels! We can make a dog bed on the scanning bed and he can sleep through being in the lab."

Takeo nodded, picking up the remainder of the stack by the door. M-21 took the plate followed them out but Seira and Regis remained behind, picking up the towels and getting rid of the residue in the tub.

When they reached the lab, Takeo put down the towels and fluffed them up around the edges and Tao put the puppy down in the middle. M-21 held a treat out for the puppy to take it in his mouth while Tao switched on the scanner. The puppy didn't seem bothered by the light or motion of the scanner, from the way it turned around and flopped in the bed.

"What do you think?" Tao asked.

Takeo and M-21 looked at him.

"About _him_ having a dog as a pet! Well, if he's a service animal, we'll mostly be training him – or M-21 will be," Tao said completely shamelessly, "but aren't pets supposed to be good for people? I'm happy with the goldfish."

The goldfish. M-21 smirked. Tao had a noble soul weapon, power the bastards back in the Union craved and were willing to throw away people's lives to get, and he called it 'the Goldfish.' It wasn't quite the same as hearing Rael insult the Union, calling them all the things M-21 _wished_ he'd had the guts to call them aloud back when they controlled him, but it still made him smile.

The elevator door opened and Raizel stepped in as Tao asked, "Where will he sleep tonight?"

"I will take responsibility for him," said the noble, and smiled. "I am glad he has somewhere to belong."

Even Tao was silent for a bit after that. Raizel's smile… It made M-21 feel small and big at the same time. Like he felt so small compared to Raizel, but that wasn't a bad thing. It didn't mean Raizel was looming over him, or he was in danger. Just small like the puppy was small, when Raizel found it in an alley and practically walked home because long distance jumping was upsetting the puppy and Raizel wouldn't do that. Big, because… He didn't have words. Just that Raizel approved of what the three of them were doing. Approved of M-21, after he'd endangered the kids and been wrong about M-24 and made Raizel spend his life to Awaken him when he fought the infected and. He didn't deserve for Raizel to smile at him like that but. He still did it.

Raizel walked forward slowly, reached his arm out, and carefully patted M-21 on the shoulder. Pat, pat. Like M-21 was a puppy – no, like Frankenstein that time, when the school was damaged. He didn't know how to do or react, especially when Raizel took two more steps forward and wrapped his arms around him carefully.

M-21 hadn't been hugged since he was with the M-series, and even them only once. The one that came up with the idea of hugging people? That meant he was 'weak' and they picked him to test to destruction sooner rather than later. They'd leaned against each other to take up less space and have the comfort of a solid body, slept next to each other so they'd know if someone was taken away in the night, and those were almost the same thing as standing here with arms around him now.

He closed his eyes, pressed them against Raizel's jacket, and Raizel stroked his back gently.

They didn't move for awhile. Everything was silent except for the sound of the scanner, up until the puppy woke up and made hungry whimpering sounds until someone – Tao, from the light steps – hurried to give him a cookie. Dog biscuit. Hearing the happy crunch brought M-21 back to himself and he stepped back. "Sir," he said apologetically.

Raizel shook his head and patted him again. Once, twice, on the head. M-21 ducked his head, smiling or maybe smirking. Just at his own embarrassment. It wasn't like Raizel minded.

It wasn't like the other M-series would mind.

Raizel turned away and picked up the puppy, wrapped in one of the towels that made his bed, and held him to the chest the way he had brought him here. He took the plate of cookies from Takeo and walked to the elevator.

As soon as the door closed behind him Takeo asked, "What kind of dog is he?"

"Well, according to the tests, he's a Common Korean Mutt."

A mutt – a mix of things, like M-21. Nothing special about either of them, except the fact that Raizel had seen they didn't have a place to call home and taken them in.

"I'm going to bed," M-21 said. "We have work in the morning."

Tao looked between him and Takeo, getting his cell phone out of his pocket. "Regis is awake too… Maybe Miss Seira will be willing to take the second patrol shift. That way we can get some sleep and Regis can get some practice as mission control…" He started to walk towards the elevator too.

"I'll get the towels," Takeo said kindly. Tao and M-21 both froze when they realized they'd almost left a pile of towels that used to hold moist dog on the scanning bed in Frankenstein's lab. "You two have a good night."

"You too, Takeo!" Tao waved and M-21 nodded.

They passed through the living room on the way up, checking in on Raizel, who sat there with a cup of tea, a cup of water, a plate of cookies and more finely chopped meat in front of him on the table, a book in his hands. Miss Seira was sitting next to him, and Rael was in the kitchen, drying the cutting board and putting it away.

M-21 felt guilty – doing the dishes was his job, but of course Seira was going to make sure it got taken care of when she didn't know when M-21 would come back up from the lab or if he'd notice the dishes.

"Miss Seira…" Tao hurried over to her. "Would you mind doing second patrol?"

She nodded, set down her cup of tea and headed for the door.

M-21 almost jerked when Raizel said, "M-21."

"Yeah, sir?" he said, going to stand next to him.

"Will you please tell the puppy to let me know when he needs to use the bathroom?"

"Yes," M-21 said quickly, breaking out in a cold sweat. He'd almost left Raizel sitting in the living room with a puppy that might go to the bathroom _on him_? For a moment, the hairs on the back of his neck screamed that Frankenstein was _right behind him_ and he didn't try to whirl and defend himself because it was already too late. "Hey," he said carefully, looking at the puppy. Was he supposed to do anything special? "Tell _him_ if you need to go outside, or to the bathroom or whatever."

The puppy stood up and wagged its tail at him.

Did that mean it understood? M-21 looked at Raizel.

Raizel nodded his approval.

"I'm going to bed," M-21 said again, and headed up to bed a second before Rael finished and came to glare at him for standing at Raizel's side. That position was Rael's when Frankenstein wasn't here, and the noble was damn territorial about it.

* * *

M-21 woke up sometime around five to a knock on his door. Instead of calling over, he went over and opened it, then stared. Why was Raizel here at this hour instead of choosing a shirt.

"The puppy wanted to explore everyone's rooms," Raizel explained, as the dog sniffed M-21's pants leg and slid past him to explore his room.

Wait, when he told the dog to ask Raizel if it wanted to go places, had he volunteered the Noblesse as a dog taxi service?!

M-21 went back to bed and waited for the dog to finish nosing around and head back to the door, which Raizel closed behind it. Frankenstein was going to kill him, he thought, staring at the ceiling.

Well. He'd had a good life, at the end there.

* * *

 _Sooo the puppy from Noblesse S is adorable and I should have brought him into the fic earlier, but. Better late than never. This is quite a bit different from the version in Noblesse S._

 _I was not expecting M-21 to get his hug in this chapter, but I'm glad he did._


	32. Healthy Breakfast

_Last chapter on the island! So now I just need to rearrange the chapters in a bit and things will be in order. Still not sure when the plot arc will kick off, want a bit more information from canon._

* * *

M-21 and Regis waited for Frankenstein and Seira to finish up the last few dishes – they'd already carried all the other plates out to the picnic table where everyone was going to have breakfast.

Finally the cooks finished, and since there were only a couple more platters of food, Regis took them while M-21 went into the kitchen to run a sink full of hot soapy water and start the cooking utensils soaking so they'd be easier for him and Takeo to wash after breakfast.

M-21 hurried, knowing that everyone would wait to eat until he got there. He didn't want to hold up breakfast when Shinwoo had to be starving. He always had a big appetite from the training he did, but that was only a few hours of training a day normally. Frankenstein had been working him hard here on the island to master force fields and draining his enemies, which was good: both of those would help him survive if he was attacked long enough for someone to get to him.

Sure enough, Shinwoo's plate was already piled high with food when M-21 got out there, although he hadn't started digging in. Miss Seira would have cued him in that formal meals weren't like grabbing snacks. Not that M-21 would have minded Shinwoo just going ahead and eating, he wanted the kid to be strong and able to work hard and train more, but it was a little nice, that everyone waited on him, like they weren't complete until he was there.

The way he felt incomplete without M-24, when the wound of losing the last of the M-series was new and aching. Before he had more comrades to watch his back and fight by his side. Not that he was ever allowed to fight beside any of the M-series but M-24. The thought made him ache for _just how much_ he wanted to go back in time and fight with all the power he had now to protect them, to _get them out of there_ , get them to Frankenstein and _save them_.

"M-21?" Takeo asked when M-21 sat down next to him, looking at him with concern.

"I'm fine," M-21 said, because he _was_ , he realized a moment later. He'd said it just to brush off Takeo's concern, because he didn't want Takeo to worry about him when he didn't need it, but that was the thing. He didn't need it, and yet still… like M-24 being concerned about him. Except now M-21 was telling the truth, he really was fine. Because they were fine, Takeo was, and Shinwoo, and he had real hope of keeping them safe.

Takeo looked a little doubtful for a second, but then gave him a closer look and smiled at him, relaxing a little.

So maybe the mind-reading was handy: Takeo didn't stop worrying easily.

Raizel folded his hands elegantly, waiting for the noodles to expand, and that was everyone's cue that breakfast had formally started.

"So we're going home tomorrow?" Tao asked Frankenstein, resuming a conversation.

"This evening, I think," Frankenstein said, after taking a drink from a cup of green soup. M-21 hadn't seen him make that before, he thought, and poured himself a cup. Not bad, but then Frankenstein made it, so probably a better word was excellent.

"I want Shinwoo to have a day in a normal environment before he goes back to school, just to be sure he's in the proper mindset for controlling his strength," Frankenstein continued. "Even if he doesn't need the training in concealing enhanced strength that you have, getting back to normal can't hurt."

Right: Shinwoo's new strength was psychic, like noble powers, so he used it when he wanted to use it. On the island they were trying to get him in the right mindset to use it automatically, because he'd need to in a fight, but he shouldn't be using enhanced strength at school.

"That will give you a chance to do your homework, Shinwoo," Frankenstein added. "I contacted Mr. Park and had him assign you a little extra work to make up for you missing school to accompany Miss Seira and Regis to their homeland."

Shinwoo jerked. "Sorry!" he said, bowing over his hands. "I should have thought of that." Suyi wasn't the only one who missed school: Shinwoo had tournaments and training camps to attend, so he felt he should have taken care of that instead getting so excited he'd forgotten and the Chairman had to do it. Ye Ran was very forgiving of its students extracurricular activities and health concerns, as long as they demonstrated that they were still committed to their schooling by keeping up with the work and doing some light extra credit. Otherwise even with Ikhan's help taping the classes for him, Regis would have been in trouble while he was training with RK on the island because Frankenstein had them coming out on some of the weekdays and Miss Seira on weekends.

That made sense: Miss Seira was stronger, so when Frankenstein couldn't be at the school with his students and Master, he wanted Miss Seira there to protect them.

"It's not a problem, Shinwoo." Frankenstein smiled. "I remember what it's like to have a new contract."

Shinwoo grinned; a glance at Miss Seira, and then he blushed, still smiling broadly.

Frankenstein's smile only deepened. "We'll leave after dinner," he told them. "Rael, you're with me today: I think it's time to give you some first aid training and teach you how to use the equipment. I've sent Lukedonia's hospital blueprints for the equipment I've designed to aid noble healing and keep the energies of severely injured nobles from dispersing and they have it all up and running. In an attack on Lukedonia, the Kertia Clan would be very valuable as first responders."

Getting injured nobles off the field and plugged into equipment Frankenstein designed? Yeah, that would make a big difference for nobles like the ones M-21 fought on Lukedonia. Frankenstein was handing out equipment designs, though?

Why was M-21 surprised by that, when Frankenstein allowed someone who put the kids in danger into his lab? He'd let M-21 use and examine his equipment, even brought down the fake M-24 when he was mostly certain that M-24 was a fake and really just doing it for M-21's sake. The people on Lukedonia were allies.

It wasn't that Frankenstein _wanted_ to be the only one with life-saving equipment, M-21 reminded himself. He wasn't like the Union, hoarding power and everyone else could just die. Knowing Frankenstein, he was probably happy that some of his inventions were going to get to be out there and save lives. Do what he'd invented them for in the first place.

How much must it piss him off that he'd done all this work to try to help people and if he tried to actually _use_ it, the Union would just kill anyone who used the machines, waste all his effort by killing the people he'd saved?

That was why M-21 asked, "What about enhancing Shinwoo?"

Everyone stared at him except Raizel, who was finally eating his ramyeon and acting like he was ignoring the fuss.

M-21 wanted to stick his hands in his pockets, but that was a little awkward while sitting down. "Mental defenses," he said. "It's not like Miss Seira would, but it's something people should have, right?" The way Frankenstein saw it. He'd given M-21 and the others all this power, and just thought of it as 'the standard survival package.' Things they _deserved_ , that anyone enhancing them should give them out of the common decency that was unknown in the Union. Speaking of which, "And enhanced healing."

"M-21…" Takeo said, still staring.

Tao laughed, unable to hide his nervousness. "I guess he'd be safer with enhanced healing."

It wasn't like the Union wouldn't already want him for the contract, they _didn't_ say, although M-21 knew that everyone was wincing inside, thinking about it. If contracts were supposed to be a good thing, like having comrades, like _family_ , then of course the Union wouldn't let them have anything good. Would try to take Shinwoo for this, try to take him away from Miss Seira. From all of them, when they wanted to protect him, the way M-21 wanted to protect the M-series and Takeo wanted to protect the civilians who had nothing to do with his missions.

M-21 nodded. "The contract will already make him heal faster, you said, but it wouldn't hurt." He looked at Shinwoo.

The kid looked uncomfortable, and the bottom dropped out of M-21's stomach. Had he made the kid feel like an experiment? M-21 couldn't imagine someone he'd thought was a comrade, even if he didn't deserve to have Shinwoo think of him that way, offering him up to the scientists for experiments. Had he just done that to Shinwoo. "It sounds awesome," Shinwoo said quickly, seeing his expression. "Just, if everyone doesn't mind. Seira told me about you guys, and how much you were trying to keep us safe. I already have cool powers without going in the lab, right? You don't have to feel bad about me."

Like they failed to protect him, and that was why Shinwoo had to end up in the lab?

Wait a minute. Shinwoo was turning down power _so that they'd feel better?_ Power that might _keep him alive_. M-21 frowned, felt it turning into a scowl.

Takeo was also frowning, and Tao was the one to speak up and say what they were all thinking. "Don't hold back on our account! I mean, if Boss doesn't mind enhancing you. We're already guarding the lab 'cause Sir Raizel's friend is down there, we can come down and keep you company!"

M-21 ignored the way something in him winced at the thought of Shinwoo floating in a tube, the way he'd never seen some of the M-series outside of a tube, not ever. If it would make Shinwoo safer, when it was M-21's _job_ to protect him, protect all the students.

"I'd prefer not to give any students of mine combat enhancements," Frankenstein said slowly. "I might be trying to give you what will help you survive the Union, but I'm supposed to fight for you, not the other way around."

M-21 remembered Frankenstein muttering to himself about why he wasn't going to come down hard on the kids for bringing crumbs into his house: they were his _precious_ students. They were his treasures, not his minions to use and use up, even though they were weaker than him and he had the authority to give them orders.

 _And Frankenstein gave M-21 the job of protecting them_.

 _Entrusted_ them to him.

Frankenstein was just unbelievable, in so many ways. M-21 couldn't believe he was okay with Shinwoo being modified, but… if it was Frankenstein…

Because Frankenstein would _never_.

"But… the standard survival package… much of it isn't available to low-level scientists in the Union, but I… whoever they've kidnapped and brainwashed to replace Crombel…" M-21 could see the thoughts flashing behind Frankenstein's eyes.

Saw him give up.

"Next weekend, perhaps," Frankenstein said finally, but M-21 knew that once Frankenstein made a commitment he'd _keep_ it. The perhaps was 'unless Shinwoo changes his mind,' because Frankenstein didn't _want_ to perform experiments, not if there was _any_ chance it might put a student in more danger, even if at this point it really _shouldn't_ make any difference. "Tao, you can give Shinwoo a tour of the lab, and explain to him what's involved."

Tao nodded quickly.

"It's not as though the standard survival package is _that_ complicated to enhance someone with, I gave all the components to myself with far less impressive equipment… but you'd probably prefer that I do the procedures instead of you," Frankenstein said when Tao had opened his mouth to object and was only managing to stay quiet because _interrupt_ the _Boss?!_

"It'd be faster that way, right?" Tao said. "I guess I could, but I've never really performed an experiment before."

"It wouldn't be an experiment, Tao. Even what was done to you at the Union weren't _proper_ experiments." Frankenstein restrained himself before he started getting angry at the Union and Dark Spear tendrils showed up at the breakfast table.

"Frankenstein," Raizel said, without looking up from his bowl of ramyeon.

"Yes, Master."

Raizel turned to him now and told him that, "You have my permission."

A pause as Frankenstein figured out whatever _that_ meant, because M-21 was sure there was a lot he wasn't getting. "Yes, Master."

* * *

"So what training are we all doing before we leave?" Tao asked after Takeo and M-21 came back from doing the breakfast dishes.

"I think I've got the force fields down enough I could try a spar again," Shinwoo said.

Tao, Takeo and M-21 looked at each other. A spar against who?

Try to land a blow on _Shinwoo?_ But he was one of the kids!

Tao was the weakest in direct combat, but, "I'll fight you," Regis said, before Tao had to bite the bullet and nerve himself up to attack Ikhan's friend.

"Yeah!" Tao said quickly, thinking that he needed to do something nice for Regis. But wait, Regis was the most powerful out of the four of them, so maybe Tao should still do it? Regis landed heavy blows by channeling power into his strikes though, so all he had to do was _not_ do that, and Shinwoo should be fine, right? Shinwoo and Miss Seira had been sparring before, and Shinwoo was fine even though Miss Seira was a lot more powerful than lil' Regis.

"Thanks, Regis," Shinwoo said, punching a fist into his palm. They saw the flare of blue light around both his hands.

Regis nodded and the two of them went over to the cratered area safely away from the table where Raizel and Seira had their tea.

When Shinwoo nodded for the match to start, they waited half a second and then Shinwoo charged forward, a spark of blue light around where the charge began. Energy propelling him through the air towards Regis?

Regis took the blow on a forearm, then threw a punch that Shinwoo dodged, shifting to the side quickly and using the motion to shift his weight and throw a high kick towards Regis' wrist, since his hand was extended in the punch.

The energy around Regis' fist helped deflect the kick to the side, and Regis ducked down low, charging forward and whirling around when Shinwoo dodged easily, twisting in midair with more energy thrown out to the side to send him further away from Regis.

Then Shinwoo charged back towards him again because this was Shinwoo! The momentum turned into a spinning kick that Regis hit to the side with a forearm again, while sending a blow toward the core of Shinwoo's body.

A hit: Tao saw Shinwoo wince and tensed, wanting to call an end to the fight but Shinwoo didn't seem hurt, just a little annoyed with himself as he jumped back.

That seemed the signal for a time out, which was a relief, that they weren't still fighting. It'd give Tao a moment to get himself under control.

"It really matters how much power's put into it, huh," Shinwoo said, frowning. "There's no way technique doesn't matter, but…"

"Until Frankenstein trained us, I thought a battle against a more powerful opponent would be hopeless," Regis said. He looked disapproving, but of what? How easy different people having different amounts of power made it for the strong to abuse the weak? "The Union thinks that power is the only thing that matters."

"Yeah… So technique _can_ matter even more, because they're not expecting it to matter," Shinwoo said, eyes narrowing as he raised his hands again.

The air around them grew darker, like they were absorbing the light. Shinwoo frowned at them, and they started glowing instead.

"Try to drain me," Regis said firmly. "If it's a human power, then the Union may have it."

Yeah, they hadn't see it in any of the Union agents they'd fought, but since the higher-levels in the Union didn't tell the scientists about the tricks they'd already mastered, maybe so the scientists kept inventing new things that didn't mean anything. Actually, if draining energy came _naturally_ , then the fact it hadn't shown up at all in all the data Tao had, including the stuff Frankenstein had stolen back from Crombel, just made it more likely that power-draining was in that category of stuff already mastered and reserved for the elder Elders and their personal forces, instead of the lackeys of disposable elders like the Twelfth and Thirteenth.

"Right!" Shinwoo said, and charged in again.

* * *

"I'm in!" Shinwoo announced as soon as they were all settled down by the table at his place with the snacks. Well, all of them except Regis and Suyi: the Chairman decided to give him the job of putting everything from their trip away now that he needed to earn some pocket money or something, and Suyi was away doing a movie shoot.

"Here you go, Rai," Ikhan said, sliding him a can across the table.

Rai nodded his thanks for the juice: Rai didn't like drinking soda because of the bubbles.

"So it went okay?" Yuna asked nervously.

Seira nodded.

Yuna let out a sigh of relief. "That's good." Yuna was worried about Ajussi and everyone's feelings, even though she wanted the chance to help them just as much as Shinwoo. But since she and Ikhan weren't fighters, for now they were pretending they didn't know so their friends didn't worry about them as much.

Even if that was all they could do, they were going to do at least that much.


	33. Study Session

The puppy ran to the door when the kids got home, so they saw it as soon as Seira opened the door.

"A puppy?" Yuna was enchanted.

"You got a dog, Rai?" Shinwoo asked him.

Rai nodded as the puppy danced around them, sniffing everyone with its tail wagging madly.

"What's its name?" Ikhan asked. "Is it a boy or a girl?"

Name? Rai frowned thoughtfully.

"He's a boy!" Tao piped up helpfully. "We haven't decided on a name yet."

So instead of a board game the afternoon's diversion became brainstorming up names for the puppy as they played with it. They didn't come to a conclusion, but no one minded that nothing had been accomplished. Besides having fun with their friends and the new dog, which maybe was the point. Tao loved that he wasn't the only one who thought brainstorming was fun anymore.

"I'm leaning towards Coco, what do you think?" he asked Takeo when the kids had left, scratching Coco behind the ears as the puppy's tail thumped on his lap.

"Because he's brown and furry, and I suppose he is round when he curls up on someone's lap?" Takeo smiled, nodding. "It seems like a good name."

"Why don't I try it out by sewing it onto his security dog harness?" Tao asked. "We can see if the kids at school think it's a good name for him."

M-21 had seemed a little diffident about the puppy understanding him at first, but he took it seriously when Tao asked him to buckle the puppy into the harness and instruct it in how to be a good security dog so Coco wouldn't embarrass himself tomorrow and could keep coming to school with everyone. M-21 even stuck to the street level when he went out on patrol so he could take the puppy with him.

"A trial run? Good idea, M-21!"

"You're supposed to take dogs for walks, right?" M-21 shrugged, standing there with the leash and Coco tucked in next to his right foot, wagging his tail madly.

* * *

In the morning Tao grabbed the leash first, so he got to buckle the puppy into his harness and be the one to walk him to school. "He's heeling, good job M-21!"

M-21 didn't say anything but his face colored a little – M-21 wasn't used to thanks or compliments, so Tao tried to give them to him. He and Takeo weren't either, it was still always a nice surprise when Boss thought they'd done a good job or something. It was nice to be appreciated instead of taken for granted.

It was a nice day, for that matter – sunny under a blue sky, walking to school a little earlier than most of the kids did so they would have time to get to school and show the puppy around before there were a lot of people there. The puppy's head swung back and forth maybe even a tenth as much as his tail did, but he stayed obediently next to Tao and Tao was glad he'd packed his pocket full of dog treats so he could give the puppy one when they got to school. "Who's a good boy!" he crowed. "Good job Coco, isn't he cute, taking his job as a security dog so seriously?" he asked Takeo and M-21.

M-21 frowned at him. "It's our job."

Tao gasped. "That makes him a coworker!" Like the other members of the security department, who were retired from the military. He knew they looked down on him and the others for not having the background for the job, and only getting hired because they were connected to the chairman, but they'd been really nice, inviting them to a social and exercising with them once out on the track field and some other activities.

M-21 was right though, being school security _was_ something to take seriously. Tao _did_ take it seriously, just like M-21 did, how it was their job to keep the kids and the school safe. Boss _trusted_ them with this place, and Tao had done his best to disaster-proof it and build in shelters for the kids to take refuge in and patrol for bullies. The strong taking advantage of the weak was normal in the Union, but Ye Ran's students shouldn't have to experience anything at all like the Union, ever.

"Let's all protect the kids together, Coco!" Tao told the puppy.

"This is the place we're going to protect," M-21 said, looking at the puppy seriously. "First let's patrol the grounds."

So they walked around the edge of the school, ending up back at the school gate and taking up positions inside and to the side so they weren't in the way, where they waited most days to greet the students. The puppy sat down between Tao's feet, tongue hanging out.

"I'll get a bowl with some water," Takeo said and took off, long strides heading for the cafeteria.

"That's something to bring tomorrow, a water bowl for the puppy." The cafeteria's bowls were for the students to eat out of.

M-21 nodded, looking out the gate at the first approaching students.

"Good morning!" Tao waved hello to them, grinning.

"Good morning," he heard back, one tired voice – that student yawned, which was cute – but mostly cheerful.

"Aww, who's the puppy?" a girl asked, taking out her phone to snap some pictures.

"He's our trainee security dog!" Tao told her. "We're thinking of calling him Coco, but we're open to suggestions."

"Maybe Brownie?" she suggested fearlessly, giving her opinion without worrying about expressing it to strong people and how that might be a little dangerous, entirely focused on typing into her phone. Letting her friends know about the dog?

"Maybe," Tao said as she walked past, hurrying to the locker room.

That reminded Tao – dogs needed licenses, didn't they, and security dogs might need extra licenses and paperwork. He got out his own phone and got to work on that, researching and doing as much as he could without the name being finalized as more students started to trickle in and Takeo got back with the water bowl.

Coco lapped at the water gratefully, Takeo smiling down at him and putting the bowl off to the side by the wall, out of the way when the puppy was done. More pictures were snapped of the puppy drinking, and it wasn't long before someone said, "He's even cuter in person!" and Tao knew that the photos were making the rounds, the students sharing them with their friends.

The puppy didn't bark at any of the students, not even happily. The head of security even gave Coco a grudging nod when he got in, saying, "He seems well-trained."

"It's thanks to M-21," Tao explained. "Have a good day, sir!"

"Keep up the good work," he told them, heading for the morning staff meeting.

There were some students out on the grounds and playing fields, taking advantage of the cool morning to exercise and practice for their sports, but the trickle coming in through the gate slowed to nothing after ten minutes and Takeo suggested taking the puppy through the halls.

Tao gave their new coworker a guided tour of the school, ending in the Principal's office. Boss wasn't there since the morning staff meeting was today, but they got themselves quick cups of tea and gave the puppy another treat before heading back to the gate, because after the tea it was time for the morning rush of students coming to class to begin.

"Can we say hello to the dog?" some students coming in extra early asked.

"Sorry, he's working," Tao said with an apologetic smile, because he bet they'd gotten photos from their friends and come in a little early just to see the puppy.

"Aww," they said, but didn't argue, just taking some photos and heading in to meet up with whatever friends had sent them photos earlier.

"A puppy?" They heard Suyi before they saw her, because crowds had started coming in and it took a minute before she made her way towards them. "So his name's Coco," she said, reading it off the puppy's little harness/jacket. "Is he staying at the Chairman's?" she asked them.

"Yup," Tao agreed. "Shinwoo and the others met him yesterday."

"I haven't had a chance to look through their messages," she said apologetically, opening up her phone. "I'm not going to be able to come over today either, I've got a shoot."

"I'm glad to hear your work's going well too, Miss Suyi," Takeo said.

"Thank you," she said, and turned to line up a selfie with the puppy and Tao, Takeo and M-21 also in the shot. "Do you mind if this goes up on my blog?" she asked them.

"Not at all," Takeo told her as M-21 shook his head.

"Thanks," she said, and with a glance at the students around her she hurried to class so that some others could come forward and get a photo of the dog when Tao told them that they couldn't introduce themselves to the puppy, the puppy was working, but they were allowed to take photos.

The rest of the kids came like five minutes before the bell, with Regis, Miss Seira and _him_. The nobles all exchanged regal nods with the puppy, while Shinwoo asked, "How's he doing?"

"Great!" Tao said.

"He's doing a good job," Takeo agreed. "He hasn't pulled on the leash at all."

Shinwoo whistled as Yuna said, "What a good dog!"

"Shinwoo's martial arts school has an event after school today," Ikhan said.

"Right," Shinwoo remembered. "I won't be able to hang out today," he told Seira apologetically.

Miss Seira shook her head: there was no need to apologize.

"Can we hang out, Hyung?" Ikhan asked Tao.

Tao grinned. "Sure!" He loved hanging out with his little bro!

"How did it go?" Boss asked them when they came in to report during _his_ PE period. _He_ , Regis and Seira were already in Boss office with tea: Boss was standing next to _him_ instead of working on his paperwork, so it must be relatively light today. That was good, Boss was in a better mood when there was less paperwork to do.

"Great! M-21 explained to him how a security dog should behave, and he was perfect all morning. Weren't you Coco? Who's a good boy?" Tao crouched down to give the puppy another treat.

"Good thinking, M-21."

M-21 shrugged but accepted the compliment.

"I've received an inquiry from the head of security about training him to detect cigarettes and other contraband."

"We'll get right on that after school," Tao promised. Or M-21 would, since Tao was going to hang out with Ikhan.

"Good. I don't want my students smoking that filth. Not when I can't enhance their lungs." There was a shadow in Boss' eyes for a moment.

Boss _cared_ about his students, enough he wished he could enhance them not to build an army but just so that they stayed healthy and didn't die?

That was another reason to protect the school, for Boss' sake.

* * *

"You're buying cigarettes, Ajussi?" Shinwoo was the one to ask, looking a bit doubtful and surprised both because they were staying at the Chairman's and he wouldn't want the smell of smoke on things and because he knew that M-21 was enhanced, so would drugs like that work on him?

Before Frankenstein, they probably would have: it wasn't like the Union _wanted_ its agents to develop immunities to the drugs it used on them. It wasn't rare for low-level agents to take refuge in street drugs and be killed when the Union discovered that even its rejects were doing something so weak. That was why M-21 and M-24 had done nothing of the sort: they _had_ to live, to find those names.

"They're to train the dog," he told them, taking the bag from the clerk.

Blinking, he took the bag Raizel handed him.

"These are also for the puppy," Raizel explained.

"Rai, I don't think you should give the dog ramyeon." Yuna looked concerned. "There are human foods that are bad for dogs, and I know that garlic is one of them." So no kimchi, which frequently went in ramyeon.

Raizel looked horrified for a split second. No ramyeon? A new member of the family, and the poor thing couldn't enjoy ramyeon?

"I bet someone could cook up a pup-friendly ramyeon," Tao hurried to say, "but maybe not the packaged brands, Yuna's right."

"That's a relief, huh Rai." Shinwoo nudged him in the shoulder with a fist, and Rai nodded, taking back the bag of different kinds of instant ramyeon from M-21. "I'd better get going, though."

"See you later, Shinwoo!" Ikhan said.

"I'll walk you home," M-21 told Yuna.

"Thank you," Yuna said, blushing faintly enough it took enhanced eyesight to catch it. M-21 didn't ask, but resolved to walk Yuna home more often when she wasn't hanging out at their place. He didn't want one of the kids to be all touched by the fact that someone wanted them to be okay, and with the Union still out there M-24 would want him to keep an eye on the kids.

* * *

When Ikhan followed him upstairs Tao dashed into his room to clear off enough space for Ikhan to sit – and be sure that anything related to the Union was closed down or out of sight. Fortunately his last project was making the harness for the puppy, nothing classified.

"Can I come in?" Ikhan asked from the other side of the door.

"One minute!" He needed to be sure the needles were back in their box properly, and he swept scraps of fabric off the bed into his hand and dumped them in the waste basket, keeping himself to only human speed because Ikhan was right there and might hear him. "Alright, there's room!"

Ikhan came in once Tao opened the door and sat down on the bed, putting down his laptop and handing Tao the cord to plug into the power strip opposite the one he used for his rig – not that there was any risk of shorting out the power in Frankenstein's house.

He sat down in his chair and spun it around to look at Ikhan. "What do you want to do today, little bro?"

"We can't improve the security of the police database anymore because I don't have authorization to work on the databases that link to it." Ikhan frowned.

Computer security was only as good as the weakest link. Tao had improved the KSA's security a little, passing tips on through Takeo, but he couldn't make it too good or someone might realize a Union hacker was responsible.

"We could just hang out and work on our own projects?" Tao suggested, because he liked hanging out with Ikhan and also because he had some contract work to do because Frankenstein had rearranged when he got paid so he wasn't getting the check till next week. He wasn't out of money yet, but he'd spent a bit making the harness up to standard.

Ikhan pushed his glasses up and smiled. "That sounds fun. Would you mind if Regis hung out with us?"

"Sure!" The more the merrier. Tao got up to go get Regis.

The young noble was sitting in the living room by Raizel, ignoring Rael and working on his homework. "Hey, Regis. Ikhan wants us to hang out in my room and work on stuff," Tao told him, and the noble nodded and got up, gathering his papers and books.

Tao ran up the stairs ahead of him, realizing he needed to make more room on the bed.

Regis came in when Tao was halfway done making room, put his things down in the clear space, said, "I'll get us coffee," and went out again.

Aww, he was such a nice kid! "I'll go help him carry it up," Tao told Ikhan once he was satisfied there was enough room for a small noble to sit elegantly and study – Regis was a handy size – and went downstairs, leaving Ikhan in the room alone even though Tao was signed into his rig.

It made him feel warm that he could _trust_ Ikhan. There wasn't anyone in this house he wouldn't trust to leave his things alone, even Rael. He didn't need to worry about any of them destroying his rig because they got bored, or to put him in his place, or just for the hell of it when Tao was too weak to say anything about it. None of them wanted to spy on him, even the member of Lukedonia's spy clan. He could do whatever he wanted and they wouldn't care as long as he was safe and happy.

Regis held out a coffee cup to him as soon as he walked into the kitchen. "Would you please take Ikhan's cup up to him?" he asked, instead of ordering which he _could_ have done, Tao was much weaker than Regis.

But the suggestion that he could order Tao around, or could force Tao to do whatever Regis wanted, would have gotten that 'are you insane because that's just messed up' expression from Regis, and it was because he didn't have to – and because it was for Ikhan – that Tao did what Regis wanted and took the cup from him, going back up the stairs to _his_ room, the room that was his, that no one went inside without his permission, to give the cup to his guest.

The person he had in his space because Tao wanted him there, wanted to keep him, and Ikhan wanted to be company for Tao, wanted to learn from him and admired Tao's skills even though it wasn't fighting. He had no idea how good a fighter Tao was and didn't care!

That reminded Tao that Ikhan wasn't a fighter at all, and Tao didn't just respect Ikhan anyway but he wanted to keep him that way.

His little bro was smart, and they were in a world where that mattered, where… some bully could still smash Ikhan's head open, but they'd have to get past Tao to do it. It was literally Tao's job to protect Ikhan. He could protect him, could keep him safe, instead of being too weak to even protect himself. He had allies, and a rig that could let him be certain that the surroundings were safe for Ikhan to walk home, and it bubbled up inside him how much he loved this place.

Ikhan was like him, and that didn't mean weak or looked down on. Shinwoo protected him, the way Tao had _him_ and Boss and M-21 and Takeo to protect him now. Neither of them were alone. Tao had lots of family now, but Ikhan was still the best little bro.

And no one was kidnapping Ikhan to experiment on him. Not now, not _ever_. Because Tao _did_ have something to say about it.

Regis came up and handed Tao a cup of coffee, the little noble clan heir doing something for the weakest experiment in DA-5, and Tao said, "Thanks!" and turned back to his computer to do the programming that had nothing to do with fighting, just having enough money that Tao could do whatever he wanted.

What _he_ wanted, not what someone else made him do, because they were strong and he was weak. _He_ wanted Tao to be happy, to have a soul weapon, to be able to protect everyone if that was what Tao wanted and yes. He did want that. He wanted to protect the family he had here. To hear the rapid clicking of Ikhan's keys and the barely-there sound of Regis' pen elegantly sliding over the paper as he did his literature homework. Proof that they were alive, were here with him, were happy doing what _they_ wanted to do.

"I brought the police manual on working with different security systems for you, Regis," Ikhan said.

"Thank you," said the polite little noble.

"What did you want it for?"

"Tao doesn't go on break often enough. If I can 'spell' him at the system, then he might take a nap when he needs it," Regis said, glancing at the back of Tao's head disapprovingly.

Really, Tao didn't _need_ all the sleep Boss said they should get! It was nice, but he could function without sleep for days!

But aww, Regis wanted him to rest up and be healthy! "I could teach you how to work the system, Regis," Tao told him.

"Would you?" Regis nodded. "Thank you. Perhaps later tonight." Homework came first.

"Do you still want the book, Regis?" Ikhan asked.

"…Yes." Regis thought so. "Thank you, Ikhan."

Tao heard the sound of Ikhan passing Regis the book and nodded. Regis would study it, because he wouldn't want to wake Tao up if he had a question about how to work something, and Tao's rig interfaced with a lot of people's different security systems across the city, so Regis would need to learn how to work those, too.

For his sake, a noble clan heir was willing to do that.

Tao had the best family.


	34. Asking

Rael was there, there, no there… Sangeen kept dodging, realizing that he could also tell where Takeo was, but not Yonsu.

It felt so easy, so natural, the noble was hard to miss and Takeo was also a solid presence. Was this what the noble was talking about? Yes, it must be, he was trying to trigger Sangeen to use this sense with that exercise the first night.

"I thought so," Takeo said.

"Better," was Rael's only comment, a hint of relief more than condescension in his voice.

Sangeen kept his knives ready for a moment, but after deciding that they seemed to have stopped he opened his eyes. "The 'basic survival package,' huh?" he asked them.

"If you generate enough energy to power the healing ability, then you must also have the energy to power some of the other natural human abilities." Takeo looked thoughtful.

"Humans stealing power from nobles to use their abilities…" Rael gritted his teeth. "Having your own power is less disgusting."

"Are you talking about contracts?"

"No," Takeo said. "Nobles emit energy that humans can absorb, like plants absorb sunlight. Our ancestors used it to power psychic abilities, like your knives and enhanced healing. I'm not surprised Frankenstein's enhancements gave you access to humanity's natural abilities." Takeo smiled. "He has opinions about them."

Sangeen touched his hair – the color hadn't changed, but his skin looked better already. "We noticed." Someone so powerful who didn't like anybody looking down on humans – couldn't be more different from the Union.

If whatever enhancements the experiment had given Sangeen – although the man had said it wasn't an experiment – were unlocked latent abilities, then he wouldn't mind if their doctor managed to reverse engineer the work and unlock them in Yonsu. He'd practically said for them to have at it, that the Union had this stuff already.

"So this sensing opponents – am I only doing it because you're letting me?" he asked.

"Since the Chairman enhanced me, I've been able to sense everyone I've ever fought – except Rael," Takeo said.

"Correct, human, I am letting you." Rael said, and vanished just long enough to make his point. Reappearing where he'd been standing before, he told them, "Don't expect Union scum to fight like Kertia."

"His clan specializes in hiding their auras."

"But Union operatives won't know how to do that, if they even know that auras exist?"

Takeo nodded, but frowned. "I wouldn't count on it. The Union keeps so many secrets that some lab somewhere…"

"They've kidnapped enough Kertia that some of them _should_ have studied us," Rael said. "Our clan scouts the human world because it's safest for us, but enough of us have vanished over the past hundred years, since the traitors, that who knows what the Union scum have done, if they have anyone like Frankenstein."

Takeo winced. "Frankenstein's unique." Thank goodness.

"There are how many of you humans?" Rael pointed out. "And my father acknowledged him because he was fighting to make the nobles acknowledge not just his strength, but the strength of _humans_."

"More humans than just him…" Takeo nodded in respect, but still frowned. "He's so different from the Union's scientists. He sees things that they… not just dismiss, that they don't even see, even when it's right in front of them. Even if the Union found another Frankenstein, could they be as much of a genius blinded like that?"

"The Union is a festering pile of trash, but those as weak as these," Rael looked at Sangeen and Yonsu meaningfully, "Can't afford to look down on them if they intend to do their duty. Takeo, you train Sangeen's new sense. I'll work on making Yonsu less pathetic fighting anyone faster than her again."

And Rael was _still_ moving in slow motion by his standards fighting Yonsu, but when she desperately needed to avoid hits from more powerful Union enhanced humans, learning how to avoid people faster than her could keep her alive. So, "Thank you," Sangeen said.

A curt nod from Yonsu. "Thanks." Even though she grimaced at how they needed the help, that they needed to go further into debt to these people.

* * *

"Takeo," Rael asked when they were home, landed on the balcony.

"Yes, Rael?"

"Do you want a contract with me?" Rael asked, standing there facing the enhanced human squarely. Kertia weren't cowards, he told himself.

Takeo's eyes widened. "Gejutel offered us contracts," he said, which stunned Rael for a moment. "We turned him down. We wanted to keep living the way we were living… and it was nice to be able to turn down something like that."

To _not_ sell their souls for power. To have some pride. Takeo kept surprising Rael with reminders of how elegant he was. For a human.

"M-21 tried to make a contract with Frankenstein: I think he did it to atone for asking him to look after the fake, but it was also because he trusted Frankenstein not to control him… or maybe he just didn't mind, if it was Frankenstein." Takeo frowned, a crease of worry for M-21 between his eyes. "The Union has left us alone for some time now, but they won't leave us alone forever. M-21 with his werewolf powers, Tao with a soul weapon: I don't want to hold the others back. For the sake of my comrades, and the life we have here that we want to defend…"

"You don't want a contract," Rael finished for him.

Takeo blinked at him, surprised.

"You want more power so you can defend your clan, the same as me. Your will to protect is strong enough that you'd give up your will to protect everyone: that's not a true contract." That wasn't what Raizel and Frankenstein have.

"For it to be a true contract, both sides have to want it – Rael, do _you_ want a contract?"

Rael's cheeks flushed. "Who wouldn't want what the Noblesse and Frankenstein have?"

"That's true," Takeo agreed. "But Rael, you think you might have that with me?"

"You're elegant." Long-limbed, long-haired. "You fight more and more like a Kertia."

"That's thanks to your training," Takeo told him, modestly rejecting the compliment.

Elegant.

"You're not terrible to train," Rael said, glancing to the side. "You have a strong will to protect, like Frankenstein." Takeo would even try to protect Rael, he thought, even though Takeo would still be weaker than him after the contract. But Frankenstein tried to protect the Noblesse, even though the Noblesse was the very symbol of strength, and that… wasn't inelegant. "You don't want a contract," he repeated himself. And that meant there was no point in this conversation.

"Wait, Rael," Takeo said, reaching out as Rael turned to go.

Rael stopped but didn't turn back to look at him.

"I would make a contract with you," Takeo said, "but if you think that right now it wouldn't be what we want… I was surprised. I didn't think that anyone else would ever offer to make a contract with me."

"You're elegant and you have a strong will to protect," Rael said before Takeo could say anything else.

"Is that really all… I wouldn't want to make a contract with someone I didn't know, like I didn't really know Gejutel. But we've worked together, trained together," Takeo said. "I'm honored that you considered asking me."

"You're saying you don't know if you want a contract with me or not," Rael said, itching to leave. This conversation was _bothering_ him, but he wasn't a child to run away from things that were difficult. Things that stirred up old memories.

"I may want one?" Takeo's voice was quiet, surprised with himself. And why was it such a surprise that he might want a contract with Rael? Rael had a soul weapon… but was that the only reason Takeo was considering it? The power to protect his comrades? Tao, M-21, _Regis_.

"What would you say if Regis asked you?" Rael demanded.

"I would be surprised, but I would say yes. Even a little more power to protect my friends… Power from someone I could trust. but I think you're right, Rael, and something just for power wouldn't be… even if it was a true contract, it wouldn't be right. It wouldn't be what they have."

"No," Rael agreed, shifting onto the ball of one foot… and shifting back.

"Why did you ask me?" Takeo asked him.

"The Noblesse discussed contracts with me. He said that it's not wrong to want one."

"No," Takeo agreed. "It's not." He shifted closer to Rael. "Rael, you… I'm honored," Rael heard Takeo say, and waited for the 'but.' "We should talk to him," Takeo said. "And maybe Frankenstein."

"Yes." Rael's shoulders relaxed. Takeo _was_ sensible.

"But perhaps not tonight," Takeo said. "I want to think about it first."

Rael nodded and opened the balcony door. He should write to his brother and ask his brother to petition the Lord to allow contracts again. He didn't want to bring more dishonor on the Kertia.

When they went downstairs to the main room the lights were off and Frankenstein's head was on Sir Cadis Etrama di Raizel's lap, the Noblesse gently stroking the human's hair while he wrote in a notebook.

Rael wasn't the only one who wanted what they had. Takeo did too.

Takeo wanted to consider it. Knowing him, he would take some time. Seira never had considered Rael, not even for a moment.

* * *

Frankenstein had schedules.

It wasn't just born of his need to keep everything in order. He knew that he had obsessive tendencies, and only working on projects for so long at a time was a defense against getting caught up in something and remaining in that state until someone broke into his house to find out if he was dead.

Perfectionism was one of the things that grew harder to keep in check as he grew older. The nobles had very long to practice the few things they actually did, and although Frankenstein kept his interests broad he had so much expertise in so many crafts that something being a millimeter off was now too unusual for it to be an acceptable amount of imprecision under almost any circumstances.

In the haze of Lukedonia, without even the rhythm of seasons, he'd lost track of time as badly as if he was a noble. Ten _years_! No wonder the Previous Lord hadn't asked him about his accusations against the Central Order Knights: when Frankenstein asked Gejutel and Ragar he was informed that the investigation had begun _immediately_ and heads had rolled for two years. The Previous Lord probably took eight more years after that before sending a messenger Raizel's way for the sake of being certain the Noblesse wouldn't notice and take over the investigation when it was his duty to sentence offenders.

No wonder that to the Previous Lord, Frankenstein's accusations and the accusations against Frankenstein were old news, matters he'd already dealt with. A human wouldn't let a problem like nobles creating mutants and humans experimenting on their people just sit there untouched for a decade while people died. So… why had Frankenstein?

The Previous Lord had lived on Lukedonia for untold eons and still experienced time and handled problems at the rate humans lived?

That was part of why Frankenstein had eventually forced himself to stop vanishing into the wilderness and focusing entirely on researching the sanctuaries and convincing his (and his master's) enemies that his reckless experimentation on himself had finally caught up with him. He needed to retune his mind to the rhythm of human life, to a passage of time that was _not_ eternal and meaningless but a precious, limited resource.

When Lukedonia was meant to hold the nobles for as long as it took humanity to advance, was it perhaps _designed_ to make the nobles lose track of time, so the clans who chafed at their imprisonment wouldn't feel it had been as long as it was? That might explain why the Previous Lord alone was immune to the effect, when he was consciously resisting it.

His conversation with the Previous Lord had left Frankenstein half-stunned, trying to think about too many important subjects at once with all this new data thrown at him to spawn new realizations.

It was only afterwards that he'd realized that first, the Previous Lord was smarter than he was.

Frankenstein was not used to that.

And second, the Previous Lord had expected him to be able to keep up.

The Previous Lord had expected Frankenstein to have the mental quickness and the sheer audacity to immediately jump on the chance to obtain a blood sample, when someone's blood potentially meant having power over them, from the _Lord_. If Frankenstein had been on the ball, he would have anticipated Gejutel being driven further into apoplexy by this human seriously expecting the Lord to be cut and bleed and taken the opening just to demonstrate his refusal to back down in the face of their power or 'nobility.'

A noble had simply assumed that this human was his intellectual equal, enough to actually draw the blood in advance – and a noble with scientific equipment?

And Frankenstein was… not on the Previous Lord's level.

Not _then,_ he corrected himself.

Now the Previous Lord had gone into eternal sleep after planning it for centuries. Frankenstein doubted he'd ever encounter a hundredth of the Previous Lord's contingency plans – after all, he knew how much care _he_ would take with that much time to prepare, and someone smarter than he was, who had far more experience as a ruler than Frankenstein did as a principal?

He'd never get the chance to outwit him. To prove that no, the Previous Lord hadn't been wrong. Humanity was every bit the equal of the nobles. Even _that_ noble.

The Noblesse was the symbol of Virtue, who protected the nobles with their power.

The Lord was the symbol of Rule, who guided the nobles with their wisdom.

Unfortunately noble psychic translation, while far superior to Google's efforts, was hit-or-miss when it came to fine shades of meaning. He should consider sending Rael to other countries long enough to pick up assigned languages the next time Rael needed time away from Regis and enhanced humans to cool down. Getting a translation of some Lukedonian term into a hundred or so human languages would help him triangulate, if not narrow down, the precise meaning…

His master turned the page of the notes he wrote down in the middle of the night, when he could focus his efforts on translating what he'd heard in class from word to thought and then to symbol, and that was enough to remind Frankenstein yet again that he was _touching_ someone.

Of course not _literally_ : his master was fully clothed and had added a pair of long, thin white gloves to his attire this evening, knowing Frankenstein's difficulties.

His psychic abilities let him constantly feel his master's presence without being… physical.

Warmth, and the sound of a heartbeat, and breath. All of those he could feel at a distance, thanks to his enhancements.

He didn't think he was uncomfortable. Not when this was Master, and Master would be ensuring there were no pathogens or contaminants on his person or clothing for Frankenstein's sake, but he kept expecting to be uncomfortable because if it was anyone else he would be. Most of the things he used to comfort himself by having some control over his environment were out of his reach, for now. He was capable of setting aside discomfort. Even emotional. Dark Spear didn't merely inflict physical pain, but the agony of knowing that _he had failed them_. His work was used to harm the people he meant to protect, to enslave them and drive them to madness just as surely as if they were turned into mutants.

Knowing that he was supposed to relax and be in the moment, to place his faith in the fact that if a true emergency occurred Master would restore his permissions, he drew in a deep breath and let the link open a little.

Feel Master's fondness and quite deliberate distance, focused on his studies so that Frankenstein could open their link while… perturbed and not have to worry about the possibility of disturbing his master by being 'talkative.'

He was _aware_ that noble psychic communication before simply sending words became a possibility was intrusive, but he honestly hadn't thought through what it implied that 'talkative' was how they were translating 'attempting to force someone else to share your views and feel your emotions.'

Unenhanced humans were powerless against mental invasion, but noble mental defenses were good enough that they could afford to use mind control _to communicate_?

Then when they said that the Lords were the absolute masters of blood and mind control… were they the noble clan who poured all their efforts into trying to… what had it meant to them when humans evolved, when communication was at the core of human survival? While the other nobles sheltered humans because hominids were cute, had the Lords done their duty of looking into the future and seen the potential to have some _intelligent conversation around here?_

Master hadn't told Frankenstein what he was doing because he really had seen it as part of the same thing as serving him tea and talking at him the way a programmer would talk at a rubber duck these days. He hadn't wanted to mention any of it in case Frankenstein took that as an indication that Master wanted him to _stop_.

Frankenstein supposed he was lucky that Master considered aimless speculation 'entertainment' and therefore acceptable. …honestly, that was true, Frankenstein had to admit. It wasn't science without testing or engineering unless it was being applied.

Whenever the nobles developed their own equivalent of anthropology, the Kertia's tendency to draw graffiti on the fabric of reality was going to be one of the _very_ few primary sources they had to go on. Oh, there was the option of having the Loyard speak to various soul weapons, but there was only one Loyard and aside from the Previous Lord, if nobles wanted to talk to people they wouldn't choose to go into Eternal Sleep.

…but then, how many nobles had lived and slept without _anyone_ who would insist on talking to them? On dragging them away from whatever served as their window and into life?

Shinwoo certainly didn't rewrite his notes, and while Ikhan did glance up at the board every so often to see if new material was up there, and at least listened to the teacher with half an ear, the laptop was mainly allowed in order to keep him from getting bored and disruptive in class.

Ikhan was something of a nightmare at his last school, but make a simple accommodation and he became a model pupil. Saving Ikhan's academic career was how Frankenstein got the local police in his pocket.

Yuna didn't take a great deal of notes because she seemed to be an auditory learner, and taking her mind away from what the teacher was saying long enough to turn it into text on a page would not contribute to her ability to absorb the material. Suyi's methods of studying weren't a useful example for Master either because she was simply too good at studying. She'd mastered memorizing scripts and stage directions quickly, and it took a great deal of intellectual ability to keep up with Ye Ran's coursework despite frequently lengthy absences from class.

So none of his friends had helped Rai find an effective method of studying. His difficulties enhanced the cover story that he was a foreigner who might have learned Korean before coming to the country, but lacked practice with it before he was thrown into the deep end and enrolled in a prestigious Korean school. The students thought that Rai and the Chairman never used their native language in order to help Rai learn through immersion.

Rai had come up with this on his own, and it was delightful. Simply delightful to lie here with his head on his master's lap and take a break from everything, everything but this. From being here in this moment, his hands still warm from the cup of tea he was drinking when Raizel stood up and sat down on the couch, patting the cushion next to him for Frankenstein to join him. That movement was what made him notice his master's gloves.

He hoped Master would want to do this again – he must like it, if he'd offered it a second time, when Frankenstein wasn't being punished. This was a pleasant meditative state, the hand in his hair, thinking about the past and what a fool he'd been not to realize why he was staying so happily with a noble like Cadis Etrama di Raizel.

He'd never make a mistake like that again: he knew how much Master meant to him now. Enough to make a contract with him, enough to live for him, because Raizel wanted Frankenstein to live and be happy and that meant he would do his best and _succeed_ , if it came to that.

Not that it would. He had avenues to research, and it had been some time since Master spent his power, and there was that second Ragnarok. Raskreia wouldn't absorb it, the last thing she needed was more power. The only sticking point was that he needed an excuse to bring his Master to Lukedonia…


End file.
